If there’s one Premier League team that appears to be going places, it’s Newcastle United, even if they’ve still not managed to get over their decades long hoodoo of not having won any silverware.
The Magpies are a completely different animal to the one managed by Steve Bruce and owned by Mike Ashley.
There’s a vibrancy around St. James’ Park again. The locals have returned in their thousands to worship at the feet of Eddie Howe and enjoy his brand of exciting football.
With owners in the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF) that appear keen to back their manager in the transfer market, Newcastle are certainly a team and a club that are on the up.
As long as they can keep the current status quo in the English top-flight, they’ll be back in the Champions League next season, and that means Howe will need a step up in quality in certain positions.
Given the expected riches on offer for players willing to move to the north east, Howe might find himself having to fend off agents as they serve up their clients as potential new recruits.
There’s one player, however, that has no interest in switching from his current club, Bayern Munich, to Newcastle, even though he has significant English top-flight experience.
‘I can tell you categorically that Bayern will not allow Coman to be sold, but the situation with Sadio Mané and Serge Gnabry it’s different,’ Bundesliga expert and senior football journalist, Christian Falk, wrote in his exclusive CaughtOffside Substack.
‘After his issue with Leroy Sané, Mané now has problems with his team-mates, and furthermore, his level of performance has disappointed Thomas Tuchel.
‘Bayern are hoping for an offer from Chelsea – offers from Premier League clubs are welcome in Munich (!) – but there are no seriously interested parties at this stage.
‘Any potential interest from Newcastle doesn’t appeal to Mané either.’
Given that spat with Sané, on top of a dip in form, the former Liverpool man might find that new employers are a touch more wary than they might’ve been when it comes to putting money on the table.
Newcastle, it seems, will have to move on to other targets.