Newcastle ready to move for €10m Barcelona star after World Cup

FT Desk

• Updated: 17 Nov 2022 14:09 GMT
• 3 min read

Eddie Howe has Newcastle purring this season with the Toon third in the Premier League, but the world's richest club are set to raid Barcelona in the winter transfer window…

Newcastle won each of their last five Premier League games before the break in play for the winter World Cup in Qatar, with Miguel Almiron, Bruno Guimaraes and Kieran Trippier in particular shining for the Magpies.

Trippier - a €14 million arrival from Atletico Madrid in January - has contributed a goal and three assists from right-back, but on the opposite flank, centre-back Dan Burn has had to deputise with Matt Targett struggling with injury and illness.

READ: Bellerin rejects January move to Mourinho’s Roma

And now Newcastle plan to dip back into the La Liga market for a full-back, with Barcelona's Jordi Alba targeted by the Saudi Arabia-backed club, as reported by Italian transfer specialists Calcio Mercato.

"[Diego] Simeone's Atletico Madrid were interested but have backed off in recent weeks," they write. "Of the Italian teams, namely Juventus and Inter, his arrival is implausible given Alba's age and salary. The most viable road therefore leads to the Premier League with Newcastle holding a firm interest."

Barca blues

Alba has slipped behind former Barca academy star Alex Balde as first-choice left-back at the Camp Nou this season, but he remains one of the club's highest-paid players on €20.8m per year before tax, and he still has another season after this one to run on his current deal.

READ: The five players Barcelona must sell after Champions League humiliation

Barca reportedly tried to offload Alba to Inter at the start of the season, but the player held firm, saying that "I want to end my career here."

Since then, Gerard Pique has been persuaded to retire while another club captain, Sergio Busquets, has not been offered a new contract to stay beyond the end of the 2022/23 campaign.

Alba will go to the World Cup as Spain's vice-captain, and could well find himself a Newcastle player on the conclusion of the tournament.