BIDDING HAS STARTED FOR NEWCASTLE'S NEXT BIG DEFENSIVE TARGET - BUT HE MAY NOT BE WHAT EDDIE HOWE NEEDS

The bidding has begun for Newcastle’s next central defensive target - but is he the player they need?

Newcastle United’s search for a brand new centre-half has dragged on through the early part of the summer transfer window – but with the deadline for meeting profit and sustainability requirements now in the rear-view mirror, we may see the hunt gather steam very quickly.

That’s especially true if a new report from Italian daily Corriere dello Sport, which suggests that supposed Newcastle target Alessandro Buongiorno is already in negotiations with Napoli, proves to be correct. The Torino centre-half, who was a member of Italy’s Euro 2024 squad but didn’t get onto the pitch during the Azzurri’s fortnight-long humiliation, is a man in demand and Eddie Howe and his transfer team will need to move quickly if they decide he’s the right man for the job.

The question, of course, is whether he is the right man or not – and Buongiorno has a lot of attributes which suggest that he may very well be. The 25-year-old, who has played for Torino for his entire career, is a traditional centre-half in many regards but he has a well-rounded game with few glaring weaknesses.

He’s an outstanding tackler and marker who rarely loses his man and seldom misjudges a critical intervention – he averaged five tackles and interceptions per 90 minutes last season, an extremely high mark, and won over 70% of his one-on-one ground duels. Throw in an impressive aerial presence and you have a complete classical centre-back’s skill set.

But while he isn’t a true technician and doesn’t look to carry the ball out of defence very often, he is comfortable getting around the pitch to press the opposition and put out fires, which isn’t common for defenders with a more ‘traditional’ skill set. He isn’t remarkably fast but he isn’t limited by his position and reads the game well enough to cover a lot of ground effectively.

That explains Howe’s supposed interest. Newcastle play with a high line and he wants his defenders to be mobile and able to press the opposition across large swathes of the pitch. But there is a potential wrinkle – while Buongiorno’s playing profile lines up with a lot of Howe’s preferences, he doesn’t offer the kind of vertical distribution that Howe seems to prize.

Howe has tended to sign players who have a broad passing range and who can get the ball upfield quickly, breaking the lines with sharp passes which help Newcastle to break an opposing press – Sven Botman is a perfect example, a player who is very comfortable getting the ball forward as fast as possible to spring counter-attacks.

The table below compares Buongiorno’s passing range and accuracy with that of some of Newcastle’s current crop. Botman, plainly, is by far the best long-range distributor of the ball, while some of the players whose time at St. James’ Park predates the manager are a little less strong in that area – Jamaal Lascelles rarely looks to get the ball forward, while Fabian Schär is perhaps more willing than able.

Buongiorno is closer to their end of the scale than he is to Botman’s, and one wonders if that may put Newcastle off making a bid. Their previous interest in Tosin Adarabioyo, who ended up going to Chelsea, also suggests that they have passing range as a priority – the former Fulham man is well ahead of Lascelles and Schär for both volume and quality of long passes.

The report from Corriere dello Sport suggests that Torino want a package worth up to €45m (£38.1m) for their player, with Napoli’s opening offer coming in lower than that. There will be room for a little haggling – but this transfer may progress quickly now that Buongiorno is back from Germany with Napoli setting the pace and Tottenham Hotspur also supposedly keen. Newcastle could have to decide what qualities they value in a defender very soon indeed.

2024-07-02T18:37:26Z dg43tfdfdgfd