Saudi clubs reportedly keen to land £40m Newcastle United fan favourite but Toon unwilling to sell unless price is right
Newcastle United could do with a bit of a squad shuffle after a poor first half of the 2025/26 season.
We expect there'll be at least one first-team addition in January. We'd like to see more, but the winter trading period is notoriously difficult to navigate, so we'll keep our expectations low.
While buying players is difficult, the Magpies have been pretty good at moving players on in Winter and if a report from TeamTalk holds any truth, there could be an opportunity to raise quite a significant sum this winter.
They are reporting that there is renewed interest from Saudi Arabia in Newcastle's midfield enforcer, Joelinton.
Newcastle could be tempted to sell Joelinton if the price is right
It was claimed that Saudi clubs were looking at the £40 million signing from Hoffenheim in the summer, but Newcastle weren't willing to cash in.
Joelinton went from a joke to a hero after Eddie Howe took over, but as amazing as his transformation from embarrassing striker to world-class midfielder has been nothing short of spectacular, even Joelinton's biggest fans (of which we'd count ourselves) can't deny that he's been way off his best this season.
The Chronicle believes Newcastle aren't keen to let him leave, but if an offer of £50 million plus were to come in, they'd consider making a deal. Making a £10 million profit on a player we signed over five years ago would be a decent bit of business.
Is it time to sell Joelinton?
It's a tough subject to face
It would break our hearts seeing Joelinton leave because he has come to personify the club brilliantly. His change from punching bag to bruiser perfectly reflects that of the club as a whole since the 2021 takeover.
At the same time, though, there's no room for sentimentality in this game. We will always have the memories, but we have to keep moving forward, and right now we simply aren't, so if we can sell a player who is out of form for a profit and bring someone in who is going to inject some much-needed life into the team, then we're all for it.
We're not convinced that anything will come of this, mind. The source isn't exactly one that we'd pin a lot of hope on, and 'Saudi clubs' get linked with anyone and everyone; it's an easy story to write.
