Newcastle will rival Aston Villa for out of contract Spanish international defender - journalist

After missing out on Tosin Adarabioyo as the Fulham defender opted to remain in London with Chelsea, Newcastle United must now reassess their transfer plans.

Newcastle were hoping to bring in two free agents to bolster their defence this summer with Lloyd Kelly from Bournemouth still likely to join and Tosin Adarabioyo from Fulham, but the latter has now agreed to join Chelsea leaving Newcastle with work to do.

If the Magpies can't find a replacement target who is also out of contract, then their entire transfer plans may have to be reworked to make room in the budget for another centre-back.

Fortunately, Eddie Howe has another out-of-contract star on his radar, but he will have his work cut out for him convincing him to join.

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Newcastle could revive their interest in Mario Hermoso

The player in question is 28-year-old centre-back Mario Hermoso who Newcastle have had their eye on for some time.

The five-times capped Spain international will be a free agent this summer as his Atletico Madrid contract comes to an end, but while that may be good news for Newcastle, the bad news is that HITC believe that a move to Aston Villa will be the most likely outcome.

The Villans are confident that Hermoso will be theirs come the start of next season despite Newcastle and West Ham's interest.

Kieran Trippier played alongside Mario Hermoso at Atletico

Newcastle could deploy their secret weapon, Kieran Trippier who played with Hermoso at Atletico between 2019 and 2022 to try and convince him to join the Magpies over Aston Villa, but with Spanish boss Unai Emery leading Villa to the Champions League, the odds are stacked in their favour.

We're sure that the Newcastle bosses will have had a contingency plan ready for if one or both of the Adarabioyo and Kelly deals fell through, so there may be other alternatives that we don't yet know about.

There's still over a week until the transfer window opens so everything is just pure speculation at this point anyway.