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This article is part of Football FanCast’s Transfer Focus series, which provides opinion and analysis on recent transfer news…
Newcastle are looking to follow their swoop for Allan Saint-Maximin with a deal for Netherlands international Jetro Willems, according to The Chronicle.
What’s the story?
Lee Ryder’s report claims that Saint-Maximin is on Tyneside to complete a £16.5m switch, and reveals that Willems could follow soon after.
The former PSV star is a “long-term target” of the Magpies, confirms the report, and is expected to join providing there are no medical issues.
Both players have agreed personal terms with the club.
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The perfect signing?
While the signing of the pacey, daring Saint-Maximin is an exciting one, the Willems swoop may just be the most important deal the Magpies make this summer.
For too long the club has been counting on utility players who don’t tick all the boxes to fill in at left-back, with both Paul Dummett and Matt Ritchie trying their luck there last season.
Dummett is solid defensively but offers nothing going forward, averaging just 0.3 shots, 0.2 key passes and 0.1 dribbles per game, while Ritchie is the opposite, a winger with fantastic crossing ability but very little experience in a defensive setting.
Willems though, while he didn’t have a fantastic season with Eintracht Frankfurt, starting just seven league games, has shown during his time at PSV he can be the two-way specialist left-back Newcastle need.
In his final season with the Dutch giants, he scored twice and assisted twice, making 1.8 tackles, 1 interception and 1.6 key passes per game. His best campaign came in the 2014/15 season, when he racked up a superb 13 assists while averaging a whopping 2.5 key passes each game, per Whoscored
With 22 Netherlands caps and 41 appearances in European competition to his name, Willems has all the experience required to step in and make an immediate impact on Tyneside, while still aged just 25 he has plenty of room to grow and develop further at the club.
This is a perfect signing from the Magpies.
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