Summer defensive transfer target signs new deal with club all-but ending Newcastle's hopes

Newcastle United were very keen to add more options to their defence in the summer with several names touted before the club devoted way too much time on trying to sign Marc Guehi from Crystal Palace.

The Marc Guehi pursuit picked up pace in August and ran until deadline day with Newcastle coming away empty handed.

Before that, though, Newcastle had actually flirted with the idea of signing other players over Guehi including AC Milan's Malick Thiaw and Fikayo Tomori as well as Federico Gatti from Juventus.

At certain points during the summer a deal for Malick Thiaw looked to be pretty much done, but like so many other stories during the summer, it seemed to be more in hope than reality.

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Federico Gatti has signed a new deal at Juventus

As for Federico Gatti, that link came at the start of the summer before fading quickly at a time when the Magpies were also looking at Riccardo Calafiori who eventually joined Arsenal.

If any interest in Gatti remained on Tyneside then The Boot Room's latest news will certainly have dashed their hopes.

Gatti has put pen to paper on a new deal at Juventus after a phenomenal start to the season which has see the Old Lady concede just one goal in seven matches. Gatti has even stepped up as captain in the absence of Danilo.

Paul Mitchell will be looking far and wide for a new centre-back

Gatti's previous deal was set to run to 2028 so there was no real rush to tie him down to a new contract, but Juventus felt his performances warranted some form of acknowledgement, and with this deal being signed, it's a huge statement of intent by both Juventus and Gatti that he's set to stay in Turin.

Newcastle fans have been led to believe that Paul Mitchell is set to cast a much wider net in his search for Fabian Schar's eventual replacement, which can't be too hard as the summer saw us fishing with a pole baited with something that would only attract one specific fish. (Did that metaphor work?)

Given that Newcastle will welcome back Jamaal Lascelles and Sven Botman at the end of the year, we aren't sure how desperate we are for a new centre-back in January when there's a clear need for a right-winger that needs to be addressed. And dare we say, a striker too? Or are we just being silly?