Newcastle United have Jamal Lewis, Matt Ritchie and Paul Dummett on the books who can play at left-back, but Lewis picked up a hamstring injury which could keep him out for another month and Dummett has just returned to training following a long-term calf injury, so the Magpies will be short of cover.
Newcastle have lucrative funds following their takeover by Public Investment Fund, PCP Capital Partners and RB Sports & Media, so they can easily strengthen in the transfer market when the January window opens.
United have been linked with Lucas Digne and Oleksandr Zinchenko, but Alan Hutton believes the former would be a ‘great start’ to the Newcastle project. He told Football Insider: “Signing Digne would be a great start for that new era. Defensively is where a lot of Newcastle’s problems lie.
Hutton tells no lies. Newcastle are 20th in the Premier League for goals conceded (41), 19th for clean sheets (1) and joint-19th for shots faced per game (15.9).
He added: “They’ve played makeshift full-backs often this season – Matt Ritchie has played in there, for example. To have someone in there who knows the Premier League and has played an awful lot of games at a high level would be brilliant. He’d really fit the bill.
Digne has made 127 appearances in all competitions since joining Everton from Barcelona in 2018, scoring six goals with 20 assists. He’s featured in 15/19 games across the board this season but has been left out of the squad after a reported fallout with manager Rafa Benitez.
“If things have deteriorated with Rafa Benitez at Everton and he’s not going to be playing – as a player, you won’t be happy with that. It’s a risk because they could go down this season, but the bigger picture is the project they are building in the background – I’m sure he wants to sign for Newcastle and be a part of that.”
Everton set to sign Mircea Lucescu in January too, so Digne might be available as a result. Newcastle have the money to match his asking price and wage demands, so they might be able to lure him away from Goodison Park.
In other news, fans on social media say Newcastle signing ‘fantastic’ Niklas Sule would be ‘huge’
