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A football finance guru has dropped a claim on the potential takeover of Newcastle United by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) group.

Speaking to Football Insider, Kieran Maguire has claimed that Mike Ashley would have to peg down his initial asking price to sell the St. James’ Park club if they were to see themselves relegated from the Premier League down to the EFL Championship:

“The price that has been discussed with regards to the PIF takeover was £300m.

“Mike Ashley was originally asking for about £350m but on the back of Covid, he’s had to drop the price. If they are out of the Premier League, there’s no guarantee you’re getting back first season.

“Anybody buying the club this summer if Newcastle were in the Championship is immediately looking at £60m less in broadcast money and no guarantee the club is going to return the following season.

“I think he would have to knock off around a third of his asking price, to about £200m. The reason I say that is because if I was a buyer then why would I buy Newcastle in the Championship when I can buy Derby County who are allegedly going for £60m?

“I think the chances of being taken over in the Championship would be hurt. In the Championship, you’d pay a big premium because it’s Newcastle but you’d be thinking why not buy Derby for a fraction of what I could spend on Newcastle.”

Newcastle in danger of relegation

After their 1-1 home draw against Wolves on Saturday night, in where an opener from Jamaal Lascelles was cancelled out by Ruben Neves, Steve Bruce’s men found themselves dangerously lingering just above the drop zone in 17th spot on 26 points, before Fulham’s away trip to Crystal Palace on Sunday lunchtime.

If the North East club were to find themselves relegated, then a Championship team would surely be less attractive to the prospective buyers than an EPL one.

It may also be a question for Ashley as to whether he would want to sell the Tyneside club for potentially much less than his asking price as well, and whether he would then hold off until the Magpies were back in the top flight again.

Nonetheless, it will be interesting to see what does happen with the potential bid if the Toon were to find themselves relegated.

In other news, find out whose display was slammed by Lee Ryder versus Wolves here!

Just when Leeds thought there was more positivity engulfing the club, they were rocked by yet another injury setback.

It’s been the story of their season, particularly from a defensive standpoint.

On the chalkboard

Leeds may have defeated Newcastle on Tuesday evening but after ten minutes they were dealt a crushing blow.

Despite coming through two sessions of murderball last week, Diego Llorente had to be substituted with an injury early on.

Phil Hay has since revealed that the Spaniard could miss up to a month of action after heading for scans on Wednesday.

As a result, Bielsa will have to scramble around to patch his defence together again.

The solution

The obvious answer to this conundrum would be to put Pascal Struijk at centre-back. The Dutchman came on during their win over the Magpies and performed well, standing out above a host of Leeds’ other players by winning 100% of his defensive duels.

That being said, this injury blow could open up the opportunity of first-team minutes for Charlie Cresswell.

It was revealed this week that fellow defender Oli Casey was set to go out on loan and with that in mind it appears Cresswell is next in the pecking order in terms of seniority to Struijk.

[snack-amp-story url=”https://www.footballfancast.com/web-stories/read-this-weeks-latest-leeds-news” title=”Read this week’s latest Leeds news!”]

The 18-year-old has played just once under Bielsa, a defeat to Hull in the Carabao Cup earlier this season, but he’s highly thought of and there is surely no better time than now to hand him some sort of role in the senior set-up.

Speaking about the centre-back earlier this season after he signed a new contract, Noel Whelan only had praise for him. He told Football Insider: “His debut was fantastic against Hull, in my opinion, I thought he was one of the standout players even though we played so poorly on the night.

“He is the future, he’s one for the future. At that centre-half position he’s got great attributes, he’s very calm on the ball, a great size to him, he’s quick, he can head, he can pass. He’s the modern-day, young-centre half.”

Considering some of the defending we’ve seen from Leeds this term, being of a good size would be incredibly useful. The Whites have shipped the most goals from set-plays (10) this term of anyone in the Premier League and thus, his 6-foot frame could be used to good effect in that department.

Though, it’s his calm nature on the ball that’ll please Bielsa the most. He prefers his defenders to play out from the back and judging by his pass success rate of 81% in the Papa John’s Trophy this term, Cresswell is highly capable.

The teenager’s not been in the first team very often so now is the time to give him a chance to show what he’s capable of. After all, had Struijk not been afforded a rare chance at the beginning of the season with Liam Cooper’s absent through injury, we’d never have known how good he was.

AND in other news, Get rid: Leeds must wield axe on 6 ft 4 flop after just 22 apps, Radz can’t be happy…

Southampton have struggled for goals in recent weeks, with Danny Ings’ winner against Liverpool their only goal in the top-flight in their last four fixtures. Part of the problem could be due to Che Adams’ drop in form.

However, with Ings set to return to action against Arsenal this weekend after a brief period out with the current viral outbreak, his partnership with the former Birmingham City man in attack could be the catalyst for an upturn in form.

Adams started the season in an excellent fashion for the Saints, managing four goals and four assists in his opening 14 fixtures which led Ralph Hasenhuttl to suggest that:

“He’s a role model for the time we went through – from zero to hero at the moment,” following his goal in the 2-0 win against Newcastle United earlier this season that sent Southampton to the top of the Premier League.

However, he has struggled in each of his last five appearances for the South Coast club, failing to score or assist and producing disappointing all-round displays.

Whilst this is already an improvement of his goals and assist tally from last season, the young striker will be hoping that he doesn’t slip into his habits from last season, where he struggled to find the back of the net for so long.

Although he only featured as a substitute against Shrewsbury Town in the FA Cup last time out, his lack of confidence in front of goal was evident when he rounded the ‘keeper late on, before switching the ball to his right foot instead of shooting into the open net, which allowed the Shrews defender to get back and block his shot.

He has looked at his most dangerous when paired with a fully-fit Ings, so with the England international expected to feature against Arsenal on Saturday, Hasenhuttl will be hoping that the 24-year-old can rediscover his best form.

£15m man Adams has already assisted Ings twice in the Premier League this season, so it is clear that the two have a connection when starting together in Hasenhuttl’s attack.

Therefore, whilst the majority of Southampton fans will be excited for Ings’ return to action, it could be the impact he has on Adams’ performances that will be the most crucial improvement in Hasenhuttl’s side.

After some disappointing results in recent weeks, the Austrian manager will be hoping that now he has both of his first-choice strikers back available, the Saints will start to pick up better results, starting with the FA Cup fourth-round tie against Arsenal on Saturday.

And, in other news… Forren 2.0: Hasenhuttl delivers worrying injury update on Southampton’s “big talent”

Sam Allardyce faces an uphill task to keep West Brom in the Premier League this season.

And one of their biggest problems seems to be at the back as they have leaked a whopping 39 goals in 17 matches, six more than any other top-flight team this campaign.

It surely makes defensive reinforcements an absolute priority during the January transfer window and whilst the Baggies have been linked to the likes of James Tomkins and Mamadou Sakho, it’s another mooted target they should be plumping for.

Last month, the Daily Star reporter that Albion were keen to take Manchester United outcast, Phil Jones, on loan for the remainder of the season with the Red Devils expected to pay the bulk of his £120k-per-week wages.

That would suit West Brom immensely as Big Sam is working on a very restricted financial budget – according to the Telegraph’s John Percy, ‘moves for players who will cost in excess of £2 million are rated as seriously doubtful.’

The Baggies only have one domestic loan space left, so using it on a vastly-experienced defender like Jones could make the world of sense.

Similarly, Albion have struck gold with United before when taking on Jonny Evans, who was also struggling for game time at the Premier League giants.

For £6m, the Midlands outfit got every penny back with three consistent seasons where he played at least 28 matches each campaign before they were relegated to the Championship.

Jones would certainly be shades of that very move and he’s a player that Allardyce knows very well too, which is merely another reason to why a stint at the Hawthorns is beneficial.

The 66-year-old unearthed the Englishman at Blackburn Rovers prior to his £16.5m switch to Old Trafford, even tipping him for international stardom in an interview with the Telegraph in 2011, he said:

“He is already growing into what I consider to be a leader. When he gets more experience he will be able to control his team-mates and eventually he will wear the armband for England. It’s a lot to ask of such a young man but he has the all-round outstanding ability to be a very top player.”

Now valued at just £5.4m by Transfermarkt, Jones needs to find another club as he’s only started 17 matches since the beginning of the 2018/19 season.

Despite only being 28, he has proven to be a reliable influence over 200 appearances in the big time, he’s averaged a whopping 5.3 clearances and 1.9 tackles per game during the past decade, via WhoScored, which ranks him above all of Semi Ajayi, Dara O’Shea and Branislav Ivanovic in this current Baggies squad.

Luke Dowling simply has to sanction a swoop for what could be West Brom’s next Evans.

AND in other news, Baggies’ “total nightmare” in GRAVE DANGER of becoming another Nacer Chadli…

Newcastle United’s FA Cup third round exit at Arsenal exposed Steve Bruce for shamefully wasting Andy Carroll in the absence of Callum Wilson on Saturday.

Bruce took the precautionary decision to omit Wilson and Jonjo Shelvey from his matchday squad in order to prevent either sustaining an injury at the Emirates Stadium, but he expects both to be involved in Tuesday night’s Premier League trip to Sheffield United.

Carroll was given only his fourth start of the season as he was picked to lead the line in north London, and he came close to sending the Toon through to the next round too, but he squandered two glorious chances in closing stages as the tie went to extra time.

Arsenal would have had little time to recover had Carroll sent Newcastle into the lead inside the final minute of the second-half, yet the former England international saw Bernd Leno react quickly to smother his shot.

The forward had already been made to rue his wasteful shooting moments earlier, with Carroll timing his run to perfection to stay onside only to side-foot wide an effort that Alan Shearer would later claim “can only be defined as an absolute sitter”.

Despite his shooting proving costly for Newcastle, who failed to match last season’s FA Cup campaign that saw the Magpies reach the quarter-final, Bruce was pleased with Carroll’s overall performance at Arsenal.

“I thought Andy did fantastically well. If he had topped it off by scoring a goal, it would have been good for him. There were a lot of pleasing things,” Bruce said, via quotes by The Shields Gazette.

In truth, however, Bruce wasted Carroll at Arsenal and the Newcastle United boss’ defensive tactics proved costly against a Mikel Arteta side that is often unable to present any forward threat.

Too often throughout the north London affair, Carroll was forced to drop deeper and deeper in search of possession or to help United defend, capped off by a first-half charge that saw the 32-year-old target man aid Emil Krafth at right-back.

Bruce and Newcastle eventually saw the best of what Carroll can bring to the table in the closing stages of the second period when he was presented with chances to seal a rare win over Arsenal, who have now beaten the Toon in 15 of their last 16 meetings.

If United are to retain Carroll against interest from West Bromwich Albion in the January transfer window, Bruce must act now and deliver a drastic change to his system by pairing the £75,000-per-week gem, who Kevin Phillips feels “can be unplayable”, with another striker.

Bruce often favours a one-striker system but he will struggle to see the best of Carroll over a full 90 minutes if he continues to focus on defensive stability over an attacking threat, and he must pair the 6 ft 4 target man with Wilson to lay claim to a better forward balance that may finally see Newcastle snap their seven-game winless streak across all competitions.

Bruce is setting the Magpies up defensively, but the fact is, they aren’t winning games in this set-up, so a change is needed.

AND in other news, a Newcastle gem embarrassed his teammates as Steve Bruce’s only positive at Arsenal.

Manchester United beat Everton in a 2-0 win at Goodison Park to set up a semi-final with Manchester City in the Carabao Cup.

Edinson Cavani opened the scoring in the 88th minute shortly before Anthony Martial doubled their advantage with just seconds to spare, with the two strikers working in tandem to break the deadlock.

Cavani will take the plaudits for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side and rightly so but it was Martial who proved to be the difference between the two sides as he finished the game with a tally of one goal and an assist.

However, not everyone in the famous Red Devils jersey were at the races against the Toffees, in particular Donny van de Beek, who badly let Solskjaer down during his 67′ minutes before he was replaced by Martial.

His substitution was likely a reflection of his poor performance overall rather than a tactical decision ahead of the Premier League clash with Leicester City on Boxing Day.

The 23-year-old Dutch international, who earns around £108,000-per-week at Old Trafford, was a complete passenger playing out-of-position on the left wing, as he won just three out of his six duels overall (50%), and was dribbled past twice, as per SofaScore.

It’s fair to say that he struggled to get a foothold in the game, only completing a meagre 23 passes out of 29, which is a rather dismal total, especially when you consider the fact that Paul Pogba himself provided 46 out of his 57 passes at Goodison Park.

This was backed up by The Manchester Evening News’ Dominic Booth, who claimed he was ‘much quieter after the break and replaced.’

Van de Beek, who cost United £35m in the summer, failed to record a single shot on target or register a single assist, via SofaScore.

Having not started in any of United’s past three Premier League fixtures, the stage was arguably set for the Dutchman to make his mark, but now he’s going to find it even harder to break into the starting XI after he let the manager down immensely with his lacklustre display last night.

It’s no wonder Van de Beek was hauled off after half-time and he ought to be wary with both Pogba and Bruno Fernandes impressing in recent weeks whilst Martial and Marcus Rashford featured off the bench.

His seventh start of the season could be his last for some time after that showing, with a tough trip to Leicester City next on the agenda.

AND in other news, Exclusive: Former Hull City striker Dean Smith says Jadon Sancho shouldn’t join Manchester United…

According to reports, Newcastle are very interested in landing Nigeria international Ahmed Musa on a free transfer.

What’s the story?

The striker is no stranger to English football, having previously been Leicester’s club-record signing back in the summer of 2016, when he arrived in a £16m deal.

But having left former side Al Nassr last month, he is on the hunt for a new club, and TEAMtalk have claimed that Musa is keen on having another shot at making his mark in the Premier League.

The report adds that at 28, he believes he still has a lot to offer, and that his representatives have already spoken to a few clubs in the top-flight, including Newcastle.

Bargain signing for Steve Bruce

Whilst Musa didn’t exactly set the world alight in his time with the Foxes – he managed just five goals in 33 total games for the club – on a free transfer, Steve Bruce surely can’t turn that down.

With 87 caps for Nigeria, the 5 foot 7 flier is as experienced as they come, and would offer the Magpies a much-needed, experienced back-up option to summer signing Callum Wilson.

Musa wouldn’t have to be relied upon to start week-in and week-out for the Tyneside club, but with the Premier League schedule the way that it is, having someone like him who can fill in when necessary or even play together with Wilson, would be a huge weight off Bruce’s shoulders.

And when you compare him to arguably the most similar type of player in the current Newcastle squad, Dwight Gayle, Musa is comfortably better than him. As per Whoscored, he averages more shots (1.9 to 1.8), more key passes (0.9 to 0.6) and far more dribbles (1.1 to 0.2) per game too.

It’s a no-brainer to snap him up on a free.

West Ham United endured a calamity in the transfer market this summer by failing to sign Duje Caleta-Car after being offered the defender in an easy deal by Olympique de Marseille.

What’s the word?

According to L’Equipe, via Sport Witness, Marseille’s Director of Football Pablo Longoria had sought to offload Caleta-Car late in the market after being ordered to sell a string of the Ligue 1 side’s players.

West Ham are believed to have been contacted to sound out interest in the 24-year-old centre-half but were unable to put together a convincing offer in time, as Caleta-Car favoured continuing at the Stade Velodrome to live out his dream of competing in the Champions League.

That dream has quickly turned into a nightmare with Andre Villas-Boas’ Marseille side winless after three Group Stage ties, featuring a 1-0 loss at Olympiacos, a 3-0 drubbing at home to Manchester City and a 3-0 thrashing away to FC Porto.

Marseille have only begun to turn around their league form in recent weeks, too, with OM sitting fifth in the Ligue 1 table having allowed the fourth-most shots a game in the French top-flight at 14.6.

Caleta-Car could have signed a vastly lucrative deal had he agreed to join West Ham this summer, with The Sun reporting in October that the Irons were willing to pay Marseille £25million and award the Croatia international a £150,000-per-week contract.

The 8-cap enforcer later confirmed he had received a well-paid offer this summer, noting via quotes by TransferMarkt: “Yes, I had offers from Premier League clubs. It was a good offer for the club and me.

“I decided to stay in the Champions League because it was always the biggest dream of my life.”

Worth a second attempt?

With Marseille’s Champions League campaign quickly crumbling into pieces, and a Europa League berth reliant on Villas-Boas bettering Olympiacos’ points haul over their next three fixtures, Caleta-Car could reconsider his future at the Stade Velodrome in the New Year.

Reports by Buzz Sport have suggested the OM hierarchy remain open to cashing-in on the Croatian, too, with Longoria already considering Nikola Maksimovic as a potential replacement with his SSC Napoli contract expiring in the summer.

But Caleta-Car could take some convincing of a move to east London with David Moyes’ Hammers far from challenging for the Champions League places this season, so may need to rely on a lucrative contract once more after presenting a deal that would have made the 23-year-old the best-paid player in claret and blue by some margin.

Caleta-Car’s performances in Ligue 1 this term as Marseille’s left-sided centre-half offer enough promise for West Ham that he can make a success of himself in the Premier League, having averaged 2.5 aerial duels won a game with a 74% success rate, per SofaScore, plus 4.4 clearances, 1.1 interceptions, 0.8 tackles and 34.3 accurate passes (82%).

AND in other news, David Moyes has been backed to bring the “perfect” £10m bonus to West Ham in January.

In an exclusive interview with Football FanCast, Chris Kirkland has suggested that Liverpool should target Burnley centre-back James Tarkowski as a potential replacement for Virgil van Dijk.

The Dutch international was ruled out for a significant period after suffering an injury in the Merseyside derby draw against Everton earlier in the season, which has left the Reds a little short of centre-back options.

Dejan Lovren departed for Zenit St Petersburg during the summer and Fabinho, who filled in at centre-back in the first few games following Van Dijk’s injury, recently picked up a hamstring injury of his own.

This has led to youngsters such as Nathaniel Phillips and Rhys Williams featuring at centre-back in recent fixtures, as Jurgen Klopp is often forced to do without the injury-prone Joel Matip.

In the exclusive interview with Football FanCast, Kirkland suggested that the Reds should try and sign Tarkowski to add to their centre-back options, saying:

“Obviously there was a lot of talk about Tarkowski at Burnley. I like him, I think he’s decent. You can’t go, ‘well will he do what Van Dijk does?’ Because that’s impossible, nobody does that.”

Kirkland suggests that there was ‘a lot of talk’ about Liverpool potentially signing the England international, perhaps referencing Liverpool’s reported interest in the defender in January of last year.

At the time, Burnley manager Sean Dyche suggested that the rumours linking his centre-back, who earns £50,000-a-week according to Spotrac, with a move to Anfield were “bizarre” but considering the 27-year-old was described as ‘Burnley’s Virgil van Dijk’ in an article for The Athletic – perhaps he would be the ideal replacement for the former Southampton man while he recovers from injury.

Despite the Turf Moor outfit’s disappointing start to the 2020/21 Premier League season, the Englishman has still averaged an impressive 6.95 rating for his performances in the top-flight so far, so perhaps Liverpool should target the £25.2 million-rated centre-back in January.

The Daily Express is reporting that Daniel Levy refused to sell Tottenham’s Tanguy Ndombele for anything less than £54m during the summer.

Levy wants good return on Ndombele

Ndombele made the move to Spurs from Lyon last year, costing the club around €60m (£53.8m).

After a disappointing first season with the Lilywhites, there were rumours the France international could leave – Internazionale were linked with a move for him. However, tough negotiator Levy refused to let him go for anything below £54m. As such, he remained in north London for the new campaign.

Mourinho trusting Ndombele

In his first campaign at the club, the 23-year-old struggled. He made just 29 appearances in all competitions, and he was heavily criticised by Mourinho. Had he left, his departure would have been far from surprising.

This term, though, he has worked his way back into Mourinho’s plans, even standing out as one of the manager’s key men. He has been involved in all  five Premier League matches so far, and has been on the end of plenty of praise from the club’s supporters and the manager himself. Finally, he is starting to show why Spurs spent a club-record fee to sign him – and it seems that Levy’s tough stance is to thank for that.

In other news, this Tottenham target is looking for a new club in January. Let us know what you think in the comments!