The £22m genius signing who would see Newcastle United launch revitalised chase for top four finish

There have been plenty of problems for Newcastle United to contend with over the past couple of months, but one of the bigger issues they will have to resolve sooner rather than later is the one they face at right-back – the simple fact is that Kieran Trippier isn’t getting any younger, and at 33 years of age is currently on what may be the worst run of form he’s endured since he first emerged at Burnley. It may be no surprise, then, that the Magpies have been linked with a move for one of the most promising full-backs in Europe.

Red Bull Salzburg’s Bosnian wing-back Amar Dedić has established himself as one of the most gifted wide defenders in Europe over the past couple of seasons, and the 21-year-old’s improvement over the course of 2023 was remarkable – small wonder, then, that Newcastle have been linked with a move, alongside Chelsea, Arsenal and AS Roma. He remains a developmental prospect, but could easily be the ideal long-term replacement for Trippier.

Born in Austria, Dedić joined RB Salzburg at the age of 13 and, after successful loan spells elsewhere in Austria has now established himself as a regular in the first-team at the same club that served as the launch platform for Erling Haaland, Sadio Mané, Naby Keïta, Dayo Upamecano and countless other vastly successful players. The Bosnian is coming through a pipeline which has produced an extraordinary volume of talent.

He has just about every quality you could want in a modern full-back – he’s a superb tackler who reads the game well and know when to lunge in and when to hold back, has plenty of pace and the energy to make lung-busting runs down the flank, has excellent movement in the final third, is a brilliant dribbler and has a keen eye for sharp passing moves that take defenders out of the game. He isn’t even too slightly built, and has the height and strength to hold off forwards that can overpower smaller full-backs.

Those qualities have been in evidence for a couple of years, but it’s over the course of this season that he’s really started to show a clear grasp of how to use his innate ability. A perfect example of the way he is progressing is how dangerous he’s become around the area – after scoring three goals in his first 59 matches in the Austrian Bundesliga, he has matched that tally in just 16 this season, demonstrating not only some very cool finishing but also the capacity to time runs to perfection, ghosting past defenders at the back post or arriving late through the middle. His understanding of the game is remarkable for such a young player, and he has the talent to make the most of his intelligence. It is also a testament to his maturity that he was made Salzburg captain at the start of the season.

Dedić is also pretty close to genuinely two-footed, which allows him to threaten defenders on both sides of the ball and helps him to keep possession moving across the length of the field – and while he probably doesn’t have quite the same quality of delivery from wide right as Trippier does, and certainly doesn’t have his experience and nous, he has the skillset required to replace him in the long run.

Of course, Newcastle have already invested in their future at full-back, signing Tino Livramento and Lewis Hall in the summer – but the latter is only on loan and has not broken into the first-team since joining from Chelsea, while the former has also excelled as a stop-gap left-back. Eddie Howe may well want another option going forward, and Dedić can play on the left side as well. If Hall has not lived up to expectations, signing Dedić makes plenty of sense from a squad-building point of view.

Someone will snap the young Bosnian up sooner rather than later – it may not be Newcastle, and it may not be in January, but he won’t remain in Austria for much longer. He’d make plenty of sense for Chelsea, too, given the ongoing injury problems endured by Reece James, and perhaps even for Arsenal if they want to beef up their squad depth given that they don’t have many options beyond Ben White and the likely departing Takehiro Tomiyasu. But of all the Premier League teams that could really do with beefing up the right-back slot, Newcastle may be the team that would benefit the most from making the deal happen.

It's not clear how much he would cost as yet – José Mourinho's Roma launched a bid to sign him last summer which was rebuffed, and rumours put the offer at around €25m (£21.6m). Dedić certainly won’t come cheap – but for what could be a pretty huge outlay, someone will get one of the most naturally gifted, hard-working and mature young full-backs in the global game. Even if Trippier, one of the most consistently outstanding players of the Howe era, isn’t done just yet, Dedić has enough quality to be worth the signing on his own merits.

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