Newcastle United have put their plans to sign a new striker in the summer on ice but that doesn’t mean Eddie Howe won’t look to bring in a wide-attacker.
According to a recent report from Football Insider, the Magpies have recently revisited their summer plans and opted against pursuing a new number nine, despite being big admirers of Brentford’s Ivan Toney.
However, although a new creative attacking midfielder is set to top the northeast giants’ wishlist, interesting reports from Spain claim Eddie Howe is keen to bring Real Madrid’s Eden Hazard back to the Premier League.
Hazard, 32, left Chelsea and joined Los Blancos in 2019, but after suffering multiple injuries, the Belgium international has failed to recapture his best form, and according to Fichajes, in an effort to get the wide-man back to his best, St James’ Park has emerged as a possible destination for the 32-year-old with Newcastle considering opening talks with the winger ‘soon’.
Having lifted the Premier League twice during his time at Stamford Bridge, Hazard remains one of the sport’s most decorated players, but following a thoroughly disappointing four years at the Santiago Bernabeu, the European winger faces a huge challenge if he is to win more silverware before he inevitably hangs up his boots.
And with Howe’s Newcastle a team very much on the up though, hope of a late-career revival could be offered to the ex-Blues star, and now valued at a modest £5m (Transfermarkt) and with just 12 months left on his contract, a potential deal could be achievable.
Another winger from La Liga that the Geordies are rumoured to be interested in is Barcelona’s Raphinha. Mundo Deportivo claims the Brazil international, who has been on the Premier League outfit’s shortlist for the past year, ‘likes’ the thought of playing in black and white ‘a lot’.