The stunning £110m Newcastle United double deal that could supercharge Magpies to become elite force

Newcastle United are a club that’s come a long way in an incredibly short period of time under the guidance of Eddie Howe and their Saudi-led ownership.

Cast your minds back to October 2021 - the club were bottom of the Premier League, without a win in their opening 15 matches, and sleepwalking towards a third relegation in 11 years. There was certainly no talk of Europe, and the idea of winning a trophy seemed a complete pipe dream.

Now flash forward less than four years later and the club have now experienced the heights of finishing inside the top four, beating Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League and winning their first piece of domestic silverware in 70 years, by outplaying the champions of England at Wembley Stadium.

No club other than Liverpool has picked up more wins in the Premier League since the turn of the year, and if Champions League qualification is achieved, you’d have to think the next possible step is competing to win the Premier League or at the very least getting themselves into the discussion within the next few seasons. But what do Newcastle need to do to compete with Europe’s elite next season?

Newcastle United plot move for Bryan Mbeumo

Unlike Manchester City, who won the league four years after their takeover or Chelsea, who after the Roman Abramovic riches became champions within just two seasons, Newcastle haven’t been able to operate with an essentially open cheque book. Some money has been spent on new players including the notable £63m acquisition of Alexander Isak, the £55m purchase of AC Milan captain Sandro Tonali along with the £40m capture of Anthony Gordon, but it’s not all been plain sailing. The dreaded PSR, FFP or whatever three word acronym you prefer to use, has been limiting the Magpies to no major first team additions in the last three transfer windows.

Thankfully, from Newcastle’s perspective at least, it’s unlikely that they’ll hear quite as much about profit and sustainability and financial fair play this summer, which should leave the club in a great position to finally sign a right-winger.

For context, the club last bought a right-winger in 2019 when they spent around £21m on Miguel Almiron, with the only remaining right-winger at the club being Jacob Murphy, who is incredibly enjoying his best season to date nearly eight years after arriving from Norwich City for £12m.

Murphy’s numbers this season have been truly remarkable - he’s managed more goals this term than he has in his previous three seasons combined, while also hitting double figures for assists for the first time in his career.

But Murphy turns 31 next season, and asking him to play every week as the sole right winger option with potentially eight extra games is a big ask, while expecting the same output is arguably an even bigger ask. This looks set to see the Magpies spring into action on the transfer front, and fresh reports from Telegraph Sport reporter Luke Edwards suggest that the Magpies are lining up a blockbuster move for Brentford winger Bryan Mbeumo.

The report suggests a £60m price tag has been set on the 25-year-old, which could be a stumbling block for the North East club, but it’s potentially a gamble worth taking if the club can secure qualification for the Champions League once again.

The Cameroonian winger has notably scored 18 goals and registered six assists this season, with only Mohamed Salah (46) and Isak (28) registering more goal contributions in the league this season. Mbeumo is blessed with exceptional pace, speed and eye for a goal and incredible ability to link up with a striker as epitomised by his almost telepathic partnership with Yoanne Wissa.

Bees manager Thomas Frank admitted he'd be disappointed to see Mbeumo leave, but claimed he wouldn't stand in his way. He said, via Talk Sport: “I know Bryan is very happy being here at Brentford. He is thriving, he’s doing well, he’s playing fantastic. What happens in the future? I don’t know. I’ve said many times, we are a selling club.”

Mbeumo’s underlying stats suggest he’d be a perfect fit for Eddie Howe’s style of play. He has the fifth highest number of shot creating actions of any player in the league (129) and the third most tackles won in the attacking third of any attacker (12) which shows he’s able to thrive in a high press and cause problems for opposition defences.

The Brentford star is also able to operate as a makeshift centre forward, which would enable the club to rotate Alexander Isak on occasions amid the potential exit of Callum Wilson this summer.

Could a move for Dean Huijsen be in the pipeline?

Last summer was dominated by Newcastle’s long and ultimately unsuccessful efforts to sign Marc Guehi from Crystal Palace, and the need to acquire a centre back hasn’t gone away this season. As it stands, the club have largely relied almost exclusively on two experienced heads in the form of Dan Burn and Fabian Schar throughout the season, with both managing to stay fit for most of the campaign by playing over 35 games each.

The Magpies suffered from an avalanche of injuries last time they were in Europe and are likely to find it even tougher this time, with at least eight group stage games. One player that’s still recovering from that season is Sven Botman, who after returning from ACL injury, has only managed six league appearances across all competitions while only playing the full 90 on two instances.

Botman was solid in his first season but his injury record has been poor since then, and with Burn (32) and Schar (33) both in the twilight years of their careers it’s clear Newcastle need to add quality in that area.

BBC Sport have reported that Newcastle are one of four clubs interested in 20-year-old Bournemouth wonderkid Dean Hujisen, who is believed to have a release clause of around £50m. Bournemouth are aware of the growing interest from a host of fellow Premier League clubs, and are reportedly growing increasingly resigned to losing their youngster.

Hujisen has the potential to be one of the best centre-backs in the league over the next decade and would give Newcastle much-needed pace in the centre of their defence which has been their Achilles heel in certain games. The youngster has recorded 49 interceptions (the seventh most in the league) and excels when playing the ball out from the back.

With double summer deal for both Mbeumo and Huijsen, admittedly an unlikely prospect unless Champions League football is on the cards, Newcastle could be a serious force to be reckoned with in the 2025/26 campaign. It’s set to be one of the most entertaining summer transfer windows in years, with the likes of Liverpool, Manchester United and Arsenal also set to invest heavily in their sides. If Newcastle can steal a march on their rivals and bag two key target early on in the window, they’d be setting themselves up nicely to take next season by storm.

Read More: Hear me out - Newcastle United's Jacob Murphy getting an England wildcard call-up is a genius idea