Report: Newcastle still hold interest in £50m Atalanta midfielder despite FFP constraints

Reports from Brazil are still linking Newcastle United with an interest in Atalanta midfielder Ederson.

Newcastle's interest in the 24-year-old is nothing new, indeed the Magpies were eyeing up Ederson when they eventually signed Bruno Guimaraes and have kept tabs on him ever since.

Premier League Brasil are reporting that Ederson would cost between €50-€60million (£43-£51million) which, for a midfielder of his apparent quality is a decent price.

Something doesn't add up

However, if we can't afford a £7million loan fee for Kalvin Phillips, where are we getting £50million from?

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The report doesn't outright state whether Newcastle will try to sign Ederson now or in the summer but it strongly suggests that it would be a January move given that it talks about Ederson replacing Sandro Tonali and Joelinton who are both missing for the rest of the season.

We dearly want to believe these transfer rumours, but when voices from the club are pleading poverty then it's hard to get too excited.

We can't have a dry January in the transfer market

Ederson has five goals and one assist in 20 Serie A appearances this season from a more holding role, so he'd be the ideal signing for us if we back out of the deal for Kalvin Phillips. In fact, we'd say he's the better option overall, he's got four years on the England international and isn't likely to command as high a wage either.

If the club are just playing games and trying to bring the spotlight onto how poor the FFP/PSR rules are, then we're all for it, but at the same time, with the state of our squad right now is the timing really right?

With Bruno Guimaraes walking a tightrope now, Newcastle are in a very precarious position. If he picks up another booking he'll be suspended for two games and Eddie Howe will have to either change formation to something like 4-2-4, put another youth in the side or play octogenarian Matt Ritchie for 90 minutes. We absolutely can't go through this month without making at least one signing, no matter how important it is to highlight the Premier League's corruption.