Howe wants familiar faces at Newcastle, including Lerma and Ake, plus Man Utd duo

Graeme Bailey
17 November 2021

Lingard and Van de Beek believed to be on the new Magpies manager’s wishlist, along with three former Cherries.

Newcastle United are looking at a host of targets for January, and it seems that Eddie Howe will be looking at his former players.

The Magpies are set to be one of the Premier League's big spenders in the New Year, with their main priority being avoiding the drop.

At some point in the future they will be breaking world transfer records, but maintaining their Premier League status is crucial to that.

And it has now emerged that Howe is looking closely at players he has coached before to bolster his ranks.

It is understood that midfield is a major area of concern and one of his main targets is his former Bournemouth star Jefferson Lerma.

Howe paid a club record £25million for the Colombian international and he is now ready to mount a bid. Lerma is currently priced at 6/1 to make the move in the January window, with a summer switch listed as 9/2.

In defence, Howe is a big fan of two former charges in the shape of Lloyd Kelly and Nathan Ake.

Howe paid Bristol City £13million for Kelly in 2019 but now he could be lining up a big bid for him in January. It is just 7/2 for him to move to St James' Park in January and 3/1 for a summer switch.

Ake was a big-money buy for Howe at Bournemouth, with the Cherries paying Chelsea just over £20million for him in 2017. They then impressively doubled their money when he moved to Manchester City in 2020. Ake is also 7/2 to link up again with Howe in January.

Elsewhere, Howe is being linked with some big names, with England star Jesse Lingard reported to be in his sights. It is 9/1 he leaves Manchester United for Newcastle in January, with a summer move priced at just 6/4.

Another United target is believed to be Dutch star Donny van de Beek and he is 14/1 to pull on the black and white stripes, and 8/1 for a deal at the end of the season.

The most likely signing for Newcastle according to bookmakers is Burnley's England defender James Tarkowski and he is odds-on at 6/5 to seal a move.

But what if Newcastle go big? Could they again break the world transfer record like they did for Alan Shearer? Well they would need to if they wanted to sign Harry Kane - he is 35/1 to seal a mind-blowing move to St James' Park.