There are plenty of reasons why players would want to swap their current employment arrangements and move to Newcastle United.
The Magpies really do seem to be a team on the up, with the entire club undergoing consistent change and evolution under the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF).
Though the club still don’t have the silverware to show for the new owner’s investment, expectation must also be tempered by the fact that projects take time to build.
Even Pep Guardiola needed a few seasons to really get Man City into their current position of arguably the best club side in the world.
That’s where Eddie Howe would surely love to take Newcastle, and in order to do exactly that, the club need to be in the conversation when the best players are on the market.
One of them almost joined Man City in the summer, but talkSPORT pundit, Gabriel Agbonlahor, now believes that West Ham’s Lucas Paqueta, would want to sign for Newcastle.
“They’ve got a project now, and they’ve got the richest owners in the world,” he said to Football Insider.
“The ambition is to play Champions League football every season, and that will attract Paqueta – playing in the big boy competition.
“I think Paqueta would go to Newcastle, Man United, Arsenal, Liverpool – these big clubs have a bigger chance of finishing in the top four.
“The Man City move might not have happened but I think he’d choose Newcastle. He knows there is a good Brazillian contingent at the club already in Joelinton and Bruno Guimaraes.
“I think it’s a move he would seriously look at.”
It’s fairly clear that any potential transfer fee would be well within reach for the north east giants, with the only question mark as to whether the player could see himself plying his trade at what is still an emerging project rather than a finished one as at Man City.
Should there be any confirmed interest from Newcastle in due course, that’ll delight Hammers chairman, David Sullivan, given that it’s likely to push Paqueta’s price up.