NUFC transfer rumours roundup: July 2023 (part one)

It's all gone a little bit quiet since the club confirmed Sandro Tonali's £55 million move from AC Milan on Monday, so we thought it was high time we did a roundup of all of the latest transfer rumours for you.

Here's every player that has been linked to Newcastle United by a somewhat reputable source so far in July 2023, broken down by position, along with some cracking YouTube highlight reels, and a bit of analysis of the links using data from TransferMarkt:

Goalkeepers

• N/A

Given that Nick Pope was just named the #10 goalkeeper in the world by ESPN FC, it's no surprise that it's all quiet on the North-Eastern front when it comes to goalkeeper links.

The club are incredibly well-stocked in this area, as it stands, with Pope currently backed up by Martin Dúbravka, Loris Karius, Mark Gillespie, and Karl Darlow.

Dúbravka, Karius, and Darlow may all leave this summer, however, so there could be some action in this department before the season gets underway in August.

Defenders

• Maxence Lacroix of Wolfsburg [Various]
• Gonçalo Inácio of Sporting Lisbon [Football Insider]
• Milos Kerkez of AZ Alkmaar [The Mail]

Lacroix will be well-known to players of FIFA and Football Manager as one of if not the, fastest centre-back in each game. Dubbed the "next Rio Ferdinand" in some quarters, Lacroix is 23, right-footed, and stands between 6'2" and 6'3" tall. He's been at Wolfsburg since August 2020 and is under contract until June 2025, with TransferMarkt giving him a current market value of around £14.5 million. His profile fits the bill for a player to compete with/be the understudy to the excellent Fabian Schär, but no truly reputable source has written anything about a serious interest in Lacroix from Newcastle.

Inácio has been linked to almost every top-half Premier League club at this point. The 21-year-old Portuguese international stands between 6'0" and 6'1" and is valued at £25.6 million by Transfermarkt. The wrinkle here is that he's a left-footed centre-back, and it's hard to believe that Newcastle would be interested in another left-sided defender having brought in Sven Botman last summer. Dan Burn is more than capable of deputising for Botman, if needed, and was superb when partnering Schär at the back in the second half of the 2021/22 campaign.

Kerkez is a 19-year-old Hungarian left-back who is also capable of playing on the left side of midfield. Already with eight caps for his country and a regular at Alkmaar after joining from AC Milan's academy, it's easy to see why Kerkez would be of interest to Newcastle. Valued at £12.8m by TransferMarkt, he has already been linked to multiple Premier League clubs and seems certain to come to England this summer.

Midfielders

• Yannick Carrasco of Atlético Madrid [Mundo Deportivo]
• Jesper Lindstrøm of Eintracht Frankfurt [Bild]
• Conor Gallagher of Chelsea [The Telegraph]
• Kalvin Phillips of Manchester City [The Telegraph]
• Lovro Majer of Rennes [Fichajes]
• Harvey Barnes of Leicester City [Various]
• Trevan Sanusi of Birmingham City [The Mail]
• Kevin Zefi of Inter Milan [The Irish Examiner]

Carrasco has been linked to NUFC relentlessly since the takeover in October 2021 and we remain totally unconvinced that he'd be someone the club would be interested in.

Lindstrøm, on the other hand, does seem to fit the bill for what Eddie Howe might be looking for as another wide-forward option. Tall, aged just 23 and now proven in the Bundesliga after two good seasons in Frankfurt, he seems ready for a move to a bigger stage this summer. Valued at £23.9 million by TransferMarkt, Lindstrøm has apparently been subject to interest from RB Leipzig, Liverpool, and Arsenal in recent times.

Gallagher and Phillips are two more names that have been consistently linked to Newcastle since the takeover, and we'd be incredibly surprised to see any movement on Gallagher after Tonali's arrival. There's not much doubt that Howe has been interested in bringing in the Chelsea man before this summer, but his best position is on the right of a midfield trio, just like Tonali.

Phillips could have more mileage, theoretically, as he excelled as the single pivot/number six for Marcelo Bielsa at Leeds, but he seems determined to warm the bench at Manchester City for another season. Still, he might find himself forced out, and a loan move with a future purchase clause could be an option for us if that happens. He'll have plenty of suitors, though, despite his 2022/23 campaign being a write-off.

Majer of Rennes is an interesting one but like Gallagher, he may have been an alternative to Tonali, who was seemingly the club's number one central midfield target this summer. Dubbed the "next Luka Modrić", Majer has 21 caps for Croatia, scoring four goals, and is a very tidy player. He has been linked to us plenty since the takeover, but at the recent fees quotes (£40 million+) it would be a shock to see him ending up at St. James'.

Barnes appears to be the main name in the frame domestically, with links from all of the major sports papers over the past week. With a fee of around £35 million mooted by Simon Jones of The Mail and a proven track record of scoring in the Premier League, he does seem like an obvious fit for us at the moment. More output from the flanks will be critical to us next season and Barnes basically guarantees goals from out wide. You could see him linking up fantastically with Isak, in particular, couldn't you?

Sanusi is just 16, so would be one for the development squad, while Zefi is only 18 and would likely go straight out on loan like Garang Kuol and Yankuba Minteh did. Like those two, he already has a stonking YouTube compilation:

Forwards

• Reiss Nelson of Arsenal [Football Transfers]
• Romeo Akachukwu of Waterford United [Various]

Nelson is set to sign a new four-year contract with Arsenal, so we can cross that one off, while Akachukwu is another 16-year-old and won't impact on the first team if he does sign.

It hasn't been the busiest start to the month rumours-wise, but we hope this roundup has helped put you in the picture of where we're at. Of the names in this list, Barnes or Lindstrøm seems the most likely move in the near future, but we wouldn't be at all surprised to see Kerkez end up in the black and white as well.