Newcastle have added Chelsea’s Spanish defender Marc Cucurella to their list of summer transfer targets as they plan for the Champions League.
It was current St. James’ Park sporting director Dan Ashworth who brought the long haired raiding full back to Brighton from Getafe when he was the club’s technical director. After just one season on the south coast where he was named player of the year Cucurella moved to Chelsea last August for £60million.
But it’s now believed that new Stamford Bridge boss Mauricio Pochettino is prepared to let the 24-year-old leave as he looks to trim a bloated squad. That has alerted Newcastle although Chelsea would have to be prepared to accept a reduced fee of around £30million for Cucurella who seldom reproduced his Brighton form at the Bridge.
Newcastle boss Eddie Howe also has a long standing interest in Arsenal left back Kieran Tierney who has become frustrated by his limited starts for the Gunners and Leicester City’s England midfielder James Maddison.
Chelsea’s Conor Gallagher is also in their sights but if he leaves Stamford Bridge it’s believed his favoured destination is Crystal Palace where he has enjoyed a loan spell.
Howe and Ashworth also have an important decision to make over the future of crowd favourite Allan Saint-Maximin with AC Milan one of the clubs interested in signing him. The club, well aware of financial fair play regulations could have to cash in on the flamboyant Frenchman to help balance the books.
When asked about his transfer plans last month, Howe said: "I hoped to do some things [this summer] and I don't think [making the Champions League] changes the numbers. We'll have to produce a squad for the Champions League, so top-four won't change the amount of signings. As I've said, it won't be a lot of numbers and a lot of big moves in. Hopefully it'll be the right two or three players to make us better."
Meanwhile, Newcastle have also been linked with a move for Nico Barella. Italy international Barella was part of Inter's squad for the Champions League final, where they were narrowly beaten by Manchester City in Istanbul.
Despite only turning 26 this year, Barella already has 43 senior caps for Italy. He started all of the Azzurri's knockout games at Euro 2020, including the final against England at Wembley, and scored in the quarter-final victory over Belgium.
At club level, the Sardinian-born star began his career with hometown club Cagliari before moving to Inter in 2019, first on loan and then permanently. He missed just two games in the 2020-21 Serie A season as the Nerazzurri won the Scudetto under Antonio Conte, and scored six goals in 35 league games last term as Inter finished third behind Napoli and Lazio.
