Newcastle ‘offer’ England international as ‘bargaining chip’ in swap deal for Barcelona star
Newcastle United have offered one of their players in a swap deal to sign Barcelona defender Andreas Christensen, according to reports.
The Magpies have already been busy in the transfer market with Lewis Hall, John Ruddy, Lloyd Kelly and Odysseas Vlachodimos all arriving at St James’ Park this summer.
After qualifying for the Champions League at the end of the 2022/23 season, Newcastle could only manage a seventh-placed finish after Eddie Howe had a lot of injury problems to deal with.
Howe has previously admitted they overachieved by qualifying for the Champions League and the Newcastle boss is acutely aware of the need for patience as they attempt to take the next steps within the Premier League’s strict financial rules, which are currently the topic of intense debate.
Speaking at the end of May, Howe said: “Everyone wants to grow the club quickly, but I don’t think you can look at it as a race. The club will progress at the rate it can within the rules.
“I understand everyone wants success yesterday. My job sometimes is to control that and give a truer picture of what is happening at the football club.
“Yes, we are trying to grow it but the players and staff have done incredibly well in the time I have been here.
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“Our progress rate has been really quick in my opinion and everyone has done incredibly well, so I understand the demand for more, but you have to reflect that we’ve done OK so far.”
And now as they look to get back into the Champions League ahead of their 2024/25 campaign, there are reports they are making ambitious moves in the transfer market.
Barcelona defender Christensen is understood to be of interest to the Magpies and reports in Spain claim that Newcastle have ‘offered’ a ‘ swap deal’ to the Catalan giants.
The Premier League side ‘continue to show a strong interest’ in Christensen and new Barcelona boss Hansi Flick ‘does not seem to have any intention of counting on him as a key player.’
That has seen Newcastle ‘offering an exchange’ deal for the Denmark international with Harvey Barnes – who Newcastle bought last summer for around £39m – going the other way.
Barnes is seen as the perfect ‘bargaining chip, taking advantage of the fact that they are looking for a new winger’ with Athletic Bilbao winger Nico Williams understood to be high on their wanted list.
It is claimed that Barnes – who has one cap for England – ‘was in Barca’s plans’ when he was at Leicester City but their president Joan Laporta ‘is no longer interested in him’.
