Newcastle United has invested heavily in young players this summer, and the club’s aggressive recruitment of prospects appears set to continue even as Matthias Jaissle searches for more established additions before the transfer deadline.
The Magpies have already signed 18-year-old Sean Steur and 20-year-old Aladji Bamba for midfield, while reports on Wednesday had Newcastle nearing an agreement for 18-year-old Guinea international Ousmane Diabate.
According to DAZN’s Albert Fernández, Newcastle is
also close to landing another 18-year-old midfielder, this time from Barcelona’s La Masia academy.
“FC Barcelona is currently working on the transfers of young players while not entirely losing the option to buy them back,” Fernández reported. “This is the case with the Fernández cousins. Right now, Guille is close to Newcastle and Toni to Bayer Leverkusen. Although there are other teams bidding.”
Guille Fernández has yet to make his senior Barcelona debut but has progressed through the club’s academy and established himself with Barcelona’s reserve setup. The midfielder is also a Spain Under-19 international and can operate in multiple central roles.
Heading into the 2027-27 season, he holds a market value of €3 million, and he’s currently on Barcelona’s first-team roster, although facing a steep hill for earning minutes in the Catalan club’s senior team.
Fernández’s report makes clear that Barcelona intends to maintain some control over the midfielder’s longer-term future rather than sanctioning an entirely clean break, which means there’s like some sort of buy-back clause included into any deal.
No potential transfer fee or details of the proposed buyback were included in Fernández’s report, but the price of acquisition might rise in case there is a bidding war for the midfielder, with Fernández reporting competition for the player.
Still, the claim that the La Masia product is now “close to Newcastle” suggests another addition to the Magpies’ increasingly youth-focused rebuild could be approaching. Along with that, Newcastle is simultaneously pursuing a more experienced midfielder capable of immediately replacing some of the quality lost with Sandro Tonali and Bruno Guimaraes in Man City’s Nico Gonzalez, another La Masia product.
Would you like Newcastle to continue stockpiling prospects like Fernández, or should every remaining resource go toward first-team additions? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.
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