Pete O’Rourke offered his verdict on Newcastle United’s attempts to sign Axel Tuanzebe on The Football Terrace’s The Done Deal Show.
Newcastle United are the only Premier League side to have yet made a signing this summer, however, it appears that could be about to change as they are now reportedly ‘in pole position’ to sign Manchester United defender Axel Tuanzebe on a season-long loan deal.
Is Newcastle's squad weaker than it was last season?
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Steve Bruce signed Tuanzebe on loan during his tenure at Aston Villa, with the Midlands club also credited with an interest in the centre-back, however, he is reportedly delighted by Newcastle’s interest in him.
O’Rourke spoke at length about Tuanzebe and his decision to pick Villa over Newcastle.
“Newcastle, it seems, have leapfrogged Aston Villa in the pursuit of Tuanzebe, which is a surprise for me, because Tuanzebe, he’s been at Villa before, the club really like him, I think he liked his spell there also at Villa Park, so I would have thought this would’ve been a straightforward deal to do for that one.
“But, probably the final decision comes down to Man United – where do they think best suits Axel Tuanzebe; will he get more games at Newcastle? I’m sure he’d be a guaranteed number-one starter in that Newcastle defence.”
TIF Thoughts on Tuanzebe potentially joining Newcastle…
With the Magpies recently sanctioning the sale of Florian Lejeune and Man United signing Raphael Varane, bringing Tuanzebe to Tyneside appears to be a deal that works for everyone involved as the defender could get regular game time, while Newcastle get a centre-back who starred against the likes of Neymar and Kylian Mbappe in the Champions League.
The Red Devils may be more willing to sanction a loan deal to St. James’ Park after seeing how Bruce worked wonders with Joe Willock last season, who became a sensation at Newcastle during his loan spell as he scored eight goals in 14 league games after rarely featuring domestically for Arsenal.