As news of Newcastle United's interest in Nicolo Barella broke on Wednesday evening, the overriding feeling on Tyneside was one of shock. This Champions League & European Championship finalist, Inter Milan regular, majestic midfielder coming to St James' Park?
Barella's arrival would be the statement signing of the summer. Newcastle, with their new-found wealth and sudden status, persuading one of world football's best midfielders to Tyneside would be the clearest message yet that they are here to stay.
The message among Newcastle's recruitment team, led from the front by Eddie Howe, has been that the club must add players who will not only bolster the ranks but improve the first-team. It is no surprise that Barella, James Maddison and Kieran Tierney have been the most prominent names linked in recent times.
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Much has been made of Newcastle seeking to extract talent from recently-relegated Leicester City, Southampton and Leeds United but there will also be significant interest in clubs who they could face in the Champions League next season.
The likes of Manchester City, Arsenal and Manchester United will want to do Newcastle no favours. The same goes for Chelsea, Liverpool, Tottenham, Aston Villa et al. Dan Ashworth and his staff know they must look to the continent for some help.
Inter Milan, wracked with financial issues, are an easy target. One of Serie A's biggest clubs are currently the most indebted outfit in the league and face offloading top talent to balance the books. The Nerazzurri are set to fork out £296m, plus interest, to American asset management firm Oaktree in the coming months.
Barella suddenly becomes an option. So too will Marcelo Brozović, Federico Dimarco, Lautaro Martinez, Denzel Dumfries and more. Players once off the table, now available for the right price.
That price for Barella will be substantial. Inter have already dismissed any notion that £50m will be enough to secure the 26-year-old's services. The player himself also has a deep-seated love for playing in black and blue.
“Ever since I was a boy I had imagined myself playing for Inter one day, dreaming of being there while the team was winning the Scudetto for the second star,” he stated in 2021. “Now that I am here I don’t want to stop."
Even if it isn't Barella himself this summer, Newcastle will shock the footballing world with summer transfer business. It shouldn't come as a surprise either, after all Howe himself has repeatedly told the media what he wants from the current market.
“Our strategy last summer was to try and find quality players for the positions that we needed not to bring in a host of players who don’t necessarily improve our starting XI or squad," Howe said earlier this year. “I don’t think our strategy will change. We want elite players because we have an elite squad. If we do add anyone in they have to be better than the players we have.”
Newcastle are entering a new stratosphere entirely. Champions League football brings the historic nights fans crave but also puts added pressure on both the playing and non-playing staff. Recruitment research must be precise and executed perfectly.
For all Newcastle have done exceedingly well in windows gone by adding Alexander Isak (23), Sven Botman (23) and Bruno Guimaraes (25) to their ranks, the feeling this time around is there will be a big-name arrival who is already widely known to the wider footballing world.
And that is the way it must be. Newcastle want to prove last season wasn't a flash in the pan and have seen in the past how often domestic form suffers when European matches are thrown into the mix. The sense of shock at Newcastle's grand Barella interest may be repeated before the end of the summer - but fans should get used to this type of fearless recruitment
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