On November 12th, we relayed news from Spain that Newcastle United have identified Barcelona’s Andreas Christensen as a target for the winter market.
Fast forward to January and Monday’s Sport backs up the Magpies’ desire to sign the centre-back.
Newcastle had already explored the possibility of signing the 27-year-old in the past but weren’t successful.
Eddie Howe’s side are still chasing him as it’s claimed they are ‘very interested’ in the 27-year-old. This is mentioned in the report that focuses on the La Liga side’s plan to reshape their defence.
Barca’s Chadi Riad has been on loan at Real Betis since last summer and has starred for them this season. The newspaper states he’ll return to the Camp Nou and will take the place of one of the current central defenders at the Catalan club.
Xavi Hernández has the Denmark international, Iñigo Martínez, Ronald Araújo and Jules Koundé at his disposal. The latter two are set to stay while the Spaniard won’t fetch a lot of money in the market.
Therefore, everything indicates the former Chelsea man is the chosen one to help Barca raise funds.
Sport state Barcelona sporting director Deco met with the Dane’s agent and has verified that he arouses a lot of interest from other clubs.
Christensen’s desire is to stay and feature regularly at the Camp Nou but the arrival of another centre-back would completely close the door for him.
Barca’s plans for their defence and their stance on Christensen could come as encouragement for Newcastle, who are said to be keen on signing him.
Sport make it clear the door is closed for Christensen to leave in January and a potential exit would be discussed for next summer.
