Newcastle chasing Man Utd target who can become their Saliba

Robin Bairner

• 29 Mar 2024 21:22 GMT
• 3 min read

Newcastle’s search for a new centre-back during the January transfer window has them turning towards a player who offers similarities to Arsenal stalwart William Saliba.

Since breaking into the Gunners’ first team 18 months ago, Saliba has been one of the leading players in his position in the Premier League, with many critics of the opinion that he is setting the standard in the role.

Of course, Newcastle are not in a position to land the France international, but they are readying themselves to sign someone who may be able to replicate the instant impact that he has had in England.

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According to TuttoMercatoWeb, Newcastle are one of two Premier League clubs along with Manchester United who are closely following the fortunes of Juventus defender Bremer.

The 27-year-old has long been one of Serie A’s top centre-backs. Even before he moved to Juve, his all-round qualities were admired by many top clubs around Europe and he has simply confirmed his qualities while in Turin.

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A top-quality centre-back

Bremer is a centre-back around the same standard as Manchester City’s Nathan Ake or Liverpool’s Ibrahima Konate, according to data analytics firm SciSports.

Using a formula based around in-game data, SciSports give each player a SciSkill rating, with Bremer landing very close to these well-established Premier League players.

To put his standard into a Newcastle context, he has a SciSkill of 109.1. Sven Botman is regarded as the Magpies’ best centre-back currently on 102.4.

It is in terms of his style, though, that he most closely resembles Saliba.

Both are primarily ball-playing defenders, although Bremer shows more qualities in terms of being a more traditional pure centre-back. This is, if anything, attractive for Newcastle, who have to do more defensive work than Saliba’s Arsenal.

And both are highly rated in terms of their qualities in their respective leagues. Bremer ranks eighth this season among 88 Serie A centre-backs while Saliba comes in ninth among 77 players who turn out in the same position in the Premier League.

With Fabian Schar out of contract in the summer, the arrival of Bremer would mark a big upgrade for Eddie Howe’s men – the type of which they need to challenge for the Champions League again next season.