Newcastle United suffer €30m blow for Marc Guehi transfer alternative

Newcastle United have less than a week to wrap up any potential transfer business and try to get a deal for Marc Guehi over the line.

The Crystal Palace centre-back has been the Magpies number one target in the centre-back position, but with negotiations dragging on, United began to explore other avenues last week. The Toon were linked with a move for Bayer Leverkusen centre-back Edmond Tapsoba, but he’s since pledged his future to the Bundesliga giants, while also being linked with a move for Chelsea defender Axel Disasi.

Reports in Spain saw Newcastle linked with a €30m move for Barcelona defender Andreas Christensen. The former Chelsea defender, who won the Europa League and Champions League during his time at Stamford Bridge, has fallen down the pecking order at the Nou Camp since the arrival of Hansi Flick.

Christensen was a second-half substitute in Barca’s win over Valencia on the opening weekend of La Liga, before being left out of the squad entirely for the clash with Athletic Bilbao on Saturday.

The club has since confirmed he “has a tendinopathy in the left Achilles. The time of his return to training will depend on his progress.”

The Danish international will miss the next month as a minimum, with some reports in Spain suggesting his absence could be as long as two months. That would almost certainly rule out any potential move to St. James’ Park this summer, with the Magpies in need of a centre-half to make an impact now.