Aston Villa have hijacked Newcastle’s pursuit of Johan Manzambi, and are close to completing a £49m deal with Freiburg for the Switzerland midfielder.
Manzambi’s arrival will boost Villa before a season in which they return to the Champions League, and his move represents a considerable blow for Newcastle.
St James’ Park executives thought they had secured a deal for the versatile 20-year-old, who has impressed at the World Cup, after flying to Germany last week. Although Manzambi is understood to have offered them verbal assurances that the personal terms on offer were acceptable, he did not want anything formalised until Switzerland exited the World Cup, which they did following defeat against Argentina on Sunday. As soon as that happened, with Manzambi sidelined with a minor knee injury, Villa stepped in.
Villa’s victory against Freiburg in the Europa League final in May meant they were not an unknown quantity for Manzambi, who made 47 appearances for Freiburg last season, scoring seven goals and contributing nine assists, and he is believed to have always harboured reservations about moving to Newcastle. With Bruno Guimarães having told the club’s hierarchy he wants to leave – preferably for Arsenal – this is turning into a difficult summer for Eddie Howe, with the manager having already lost Anthony Gordon and Sandro Tonali to Barcelona and Tottenham, respectively, and seeing Liverpool swoop in to sign the club’s early summer target Víctor Muñoz from Osasuna.
Newcastle are implementing a new transfer policy of buying players aged 24 or younger and, ideally, costing less than £40m. So far they have signed three players aged 20 or younger – the goalkeeper Ewen Jaouen, the winger Bazoumana Toure and the midfielder Sean Steur, from Reims, Hoffenheim and Ajax respectively, spending around £80m in total.
Howe, whose side finished a disappointing 12th in the Premier League last season, is anxious to balance their youthful promise with experience and he appears determined to try to keep Guimarães – but much depends on how much Arsenal are prepared to pay for the Brazil midfielder and how hard he pushes to leave. Newcastle are still waiting for the Premier League champions to make a formal offer for their 28-year-old captain.
Newcastle have long admired the 20-year-old Tottenham midfielder Archie Gray and may also attempt to sign the former Leeds academy graduate this summer.
