Newcastle are prepared to walk down the transfer aisle with buddies Chelsea as they increasingly search for a solution to their present predicament.
It would be a marriage of convenience where everyone would be a winner - United would get an attacking player they so obviously need, Chelsea would clear an overloaded dressing-room, and the player would be catapulted from the back of the queue to the front with guaranteed time on the field. What is more United have been spreading their bets in an effort to make certain someone takes the train out of King's Cross . . . if it is running!
First up is Callum Hudson-Odoi but Chelsea are aware that Conor Gallagher and Armando Broja are also in United's waiting room and they are more than prepared to switch horses if need be. That is a winger, an attacking midfielder like James Maddison, and a centre-forward which just happens to be the three positions where Newcastle require additional flair and oomph.
READ MORE: Newcastle and Chelsea part-owners make £747m investment as links strengthened
It is always preferable to go to a close friend if you want to be loaned a valuable article to help decorate your house which is why United's new owners have been snuggling up with Chelsea's new owners. They shared a glass of wine and a few highly significant words when Chelsea took on Spurs in the Battle Of The Bridge Part Two on Sunday.
United's Saudi owners are major investors in Chelsea's new majority shareholder, Clearlake Capital, which resulted in Amanda Staveley and Mehrdad Ghodoussi sitting in Behdad Eghbali's executive box. Staveley, Ghodoussi and Eghbali led the £4.25billion Chelsea takeover as the faces of the buy-out alongside Todd Boehly who is also well known to Staveley through previous business transactions.
Eghbali is the co-founder of Clearlake, who bought 60 per cent of Chelsea in the takeover from Roman Abramovich this summer. Very convenient to a football club searching for a breakthrough in the transfer market. If Allan Saint-Maximin is some moniker on Newcastle's left wing then Callum Hudson-Odoi is another massive space filler should he be on the other side.
And, my, he has an even bigger profile than the box of tricks that is Maxi. Still only 21 years of age, a mere boy in reality, let us look at the glittering background of a player for whom the word 'potential' was devised.
Hudson-Odoi has had considerable success at every age level with England. He was part of the squad which ended as runners-up in the UEFA European Under-17 Championship and won the FIFA U-17 World Cup in the same year. Fast forward to March 2019 and he became the youngest player to debut in a competitive match for England doing so in Euro 2020 qualifiers against the Czech Republic. To date he has three full England caps.
As a squad member if not a stand-out star Hudson-Odoi has collected gongs with Chelsea in the following competitions: Champions League 2020–21, Europa League 2018–19, Super Cup 2021, FIFA Club World Cup 2021, FA Cup runner-up 2019–20 and 2020–21, and EFL Cup runner-up 2018–19 and 2021–22.
Taken at face value it is little wonder that Hudson-Odoi became a persistent target for European giants Bayern Munich who had bids of £22.5m and £35m turned down. However before we get carried away and believe that somehow United would be spiriting another Lionel Messi up north let me stress what we have seen is unquestionable God given talent, not the finished article.
He would be here because has failed to live up to his rocket rise through the ranks although equally there is no reason why with the extra confidence of a regular first team place, a manager who focusses on developing his skills rather than shape a squad of world superstars, and a 50,000 crowd ready to adore him at the slightest hint of success he could not pick up the threads of success.
Same with Conor Gallagher and Armando Broja but there you go. As I have said, it is a win, win, win situation.
One blast from the past who really was sheer quality round the final third of the pitch is Peter Beardsley who over two periods parading our colours was an exquisite maker and taker of goals. Well before the action starts against champions Manchester City on Sunday I will be chewing the fat with a true Newcastle legend at the Hancock pub in the shadow of the Civic Centre.
Beardo is the most talented player ever to wear the famed black and white in my opinion which makes him the perfect Geordie appetiser before a big match. Tickets cost £15 and are available from the pub itself. We will be on stage by 2.30pm.
Entertainers's big impact for Tiny Lives
THE Entertainers entertained and two worthy Tyneside bodies benefitted by six grand a'piece! Four of Newcastle United's finest - Steve Howey, Keith Gillespie, John Beresford and Darren Peacock - took to the stage at the Grand Hotel Gosforth Park before a packed dinner audience and helped raise money for Tiny Lives and Wallsend Boys Club who have produced so much soccer talent down so many years.
The evening was promoted by NUFC Legends' Terry Sweeney and Les Hancock who raised £12,908 which meant their chosen charities received £6,454 each, a terrific effort.
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