Newcastle United have been rebuilding their squad over the last 12 months since the PIF takeover at St James’ Park, and a new potential target has been revealed ahead of the January transfer window.
What’s the latest?
According to 90min, Morocco and Angers midfielder Azzedine Ounahi has captured the attention of the Tyneside outfit.
As per the report, Ounahi has been attracting interest following his outstanding performances at the World Cup in Qatar and has a number of clubs including Newcastle named as potential suitors.
It is claimed that Wolverhampton Wanderers, Leicester City, Southampton and West Ham United are the other Premier League clubs interested in the 22-year-old.
Howe could land his own De Jong
There is no doubt that Eddie Howe will be thrilled with how well his squad has progressed since he made the move to St James’ Park in November 2021.
The Magpies are currently third in the Premier League table after a phenomenal start to their campaign and, like league leaders, Arsenal, have only lost one of their first 15 games in the division this term.
Indeed, Howe may well be content with the squad that he already has at St James’ Park, but if the club want to retain their top-four position over the second half of the season, it wouldn’t hurt to add some depth into key roles in the team.
As a result, the prospective signing of Ounahi could be a great addition if Newcastle can secure his signature in January.
The €45m (£39m)-valued midfielder – who was dubbed “incredible” by Jose Mourinho – ranks in the top 7% of his positional peers across the top five European leagues for dribbles completed, touches and progressive passes received over the last year.
Ounahi has also been a standout performer at the World Cup in Qatar, playing a key role in Morocco’s record-breaking progression to the semi-finals – the first time an African team has achieved this feat in the history of the prestigious tournament.
Across six appearances at the finals, the 22-year-old completed 91% of his dribbles, created one ‘big chance’ and tallied an 82% pass accuracy, averaging 1.2 interceptions, 1.5 tackles and 5.2 successful duels per game.
In fact, Howe could land his own Frenkie de Jong for Newcastle, as the Barcelona talent was named as the fourth-most comparable player to Ounahi over the last 12 months, according to FBRef.
The midfield positional peers have shared many similarities over the season so far, including tackles and interceptions combined (34 v 36), pass completion (86.2% v 89.7%), shot-creating actions (43 v 42) and clearances (4 v 5).
With that in mind, signing Ounahi would be a major coup for Newcastle, but they will need to compete with a number of clubs and will have to pull out a tempting offer in order to complete the deal.
