Portugal v Czechia: Newcastle United fans' reasons to watch Euro 2024

 · June 18 2024, 11:00
Portugal v Czechia: Newcastle United fans' reasons to watch Euro 2024
Copied
Share Tweet

We are going to be breaking down every reason to watch the first round of group games in Euro 2024 from a Newcastle United perspective covering players who play, have played or have been linked to Newcastle.

There will be a few tenuous links as we cover some games, but we will justify every selection.

Obviously, once the first round of fixtures is done there's no real point in doing more as every Nation will have been covered at least once.

As this is the final game of the first round in the group this will be our last "reasons to watch".

Advertisement
230621042149 01 cristiano ronaldo euro 200 apps 062023 restricted
Getty Images
Remember when Cristiano Ronaldo was constantly being linked with Newcastle?

Goncalo Inacio has been linked with Newcastle for months

Portugal have plenty of players for Toon fans to keep an eye on with several of their current squad having been linked to Newcastle since the takeover - some more believable than others.

Goncalo Inacio is a name that should be familiar to many of you given that the Benfica defender has been under Newcastle's watchful eye for a while now with the Magpies weighing up activating his £52million release clause, although things have been quiet on that front for a couple of months.

Newcastle have been urged to sign Fulham's Joao Palhinha this summer after being credited with an interest in March, but not much has happened since.

The Magpies missed out on long-term target Ruben Neves last summer as the Portuguese opted to move to Al-Hilal, although it wasn't long before the media linked him with a loan move to Newcastle thanks to the PIF connection.

Advertisement

If only we'd managed to land Goncalo Ramos

Wolves' Pedro Neto continues to be linked with a move to the Toon with a £50million summer bid being touted in May. One to watch for sure.

Goncalo Ramos scored against Newcastle in a pre-season friendly in the summer of 2022 which got the Magpies interested in a move. Nothing happened in 2022 and the idea was revisited in 2023 but Ramos had such an amazing season, including a star turn at the World Cup that he was priced out of a move. Another Bullseye moment for fans - Look at what you could have won.

Portugal also have a few world-class players that were endlessly linked to Newcastle post-takeover as the media had fun with the "richest club in the world tag", choosing to ignore FFP entirely.

Cristiano Ronaldo, Joao Felix and Rafael Leao were all linked with a move to Tyneside at various times during the first year or so after the PIF-backed takeover. None ever felt realistic.

Advertisement

Czechia striker Patrik Schick was once on Newcastle's radar

Czechia was a tough one but we've managed to find one player that has a link to the Magpies.

Forward Patrik Schick is another one of those early post-takeover links after he had impressed at international level, with the Magpies looking to go to Bayer Leverkusen with a £50million bid.

The story didn't linger for long and instead, Newcastle signed Chris Wood who did exactly what he was brought in to do, so we can't complain too much.

Latest NUFC News