Aston Villa have hijacked Newcastle’s pursuit of Johan Manzambi, and are close to completing a £49m deal with Freiburg for the Switzerland midfielder.
Manzambi’s arrival will boost Villa before a season in which they return to the Champions League and represents a considerable blow for Newcastle. St James’ Park executives thought they had sealed a deal for the versatile 20-year-old, who has impressed at the World Cup, after flying to Germany last week but although Manzambi is understood to have offered them verbal assurances that the personal terms on offer were acceptable, he did not want anything formalised until Switzerland exited the World Cup, which they did following defeat to Argentina on Sunday. As soon as that happened, with Manzambi currently sidelined with a minor knee injury, Villa stepped in.
Villa’s victory over Freiburg in May’s Europa League final meant they were not an unknown quantity for Manzambi, who made 47 appearances for Freiburg last season, scoring seven goals and contributing nine assists, and he is believed to have always harboured reservations about moving to Newcastle. And with Bruno Guimarães having told the club’s hierarchy he wants to leave – preferably for Arsenal – this is turning into a difficult summer for Eddie Howe, with the manager having already lost Anthony Gordon and Sandro Tonali to Barcelona and Tottenham, respectively, and seeing Liverpool swoop in to sign early summer target Víctor Muñoz from Osasuna.
Newcastle are implementing a new transfer policy of buying players aged 24 or under and, ideally, costing less than £40m. So far they have signed three players aged 20 or under – goalkeeper Ewen Jaouen, winger Bazoumana Toure and midfielder Sean Steur, from Reims, Hoffenheim and Ajax respectively, spending around £80m in total.
Howe, whose side finished a disappointing 12th in the Premier League last season, is anxious to balance their youthful promise with experience and appears determined to try to keep Guimarães, but much depends on how much Arsenal are prepared to pay for the Brazil midfielder and how hard he pushes to leave. Newcastle are still waiting for the Premier League champins club to make a formal offer for their 28-year-old captain.
Newcastle have long admired the 20-year-old Tottenham midfielder Archie Gray and may also attempt to sign the former Leeds academy graduate this summer.
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