Newcastle United preparing for bids for Malick Thiaw after German's fantastic first season in English football
Once again, the transfer rumour mill has spotted a player doing well at Newcastle United and set about linking them with a 'Big Six' side, as is now the tradition.
We've ranted about this phenomenon already this week, and how Newcastle (among other clubs) aren't allowed to have good players in their squad in the eyes of the media.
Alexander Isak was practically ushered to Liverpool by a relentless media campaign to unsettle him at Newcastle and direct him to a 'Big Six' side.
A similar thing already appears to be starting with Anthony Gordon and Sandro Tonali, and now we can potentially add Malick Thiaw to that list.
Manchester United, Bayern Munich and Liverpool are all eyeing Malick Thiaw
A report from Sports Boom has now claimed that Manchester United will target the German centre-back in the summer as a replacement for Harry Maguire.
Bayern Munich's name also appeared in the report as an interested party, but we dare say that if those two clubs actually do go head-to-head, Manchester United are likely to win purely on a financial basis. Liverpool also gets a mention, but it was more of a throw-away mention than a substantial part of the story.
Bayern may feel they have the edge in terms of offering Thiaw a route home, but as we learned in the summer, Man United are hard to turn down.
Newcastle should be looking to build the team around Malick Thiaw
We're not convinced Malick Thiaw would turn his back on Newcastle after just one season, but at this point, who knows?
What we are sure of is that Newcastle will fight hard to keep the 24-year-old at the club. Of the £250 million spent on new talent in the summer, the £30 million spent on Thiaw has proved to be the best value for money, with the German having been a hugely important signing.
Malick Thiaw has been one of Newcastle's best players this season, so it's unsurprising that he'd be targeted by other clubs. We just have to hope we do everything in our power to keep him onTyneside as he's one of those players we should be building the team around.
