Things finally appear to be moving in the right direction for Eddie Howe at Newcastle United.
The Magpies became the world’s richest club overnight when Amanda Staveley and her board bought the club from Mike Ashley, but having an ending supply of riches isn’t much use if players don’t want to join the club.
Newcastle are a big club, there’s no getting away from it, but after years of no investment from Ashley, the club are far from where they need to be.
Their current position of second from bottom in the Premier League also won’t be attractive to potential new recruits, who’ll eventually want to play in the Champions League and not the Championship.
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A breakthrough in negotiations with Atletico Madrid star, Kieran Trippier, per The Guardian, could hold the key to a avalanche of new signings in January.
First on the list, according to 90Min is Flamengo’s Brazilian hot-shot, Gabriel ‘Gabigol’ Barbosa.
Despite the Magpies being in a relegation battle, it’s believed that the player would consider a move to boost his chances of being an automatic choice for the Brazilian national team at World Cup 2022 in Qatar.
With 103 goals in 145 games for the Brazilian side, Gabigol certainly has the pedigree that Howe needs from his centre-forward.
If the North East giants are able to persuade him to follow Trippier, there’s still more than enough time left in January for the Newcastle board to add a couple more high-profile faces to help in a push to get the club up the table in the second half of the campaign.