Newcastle United have reportedly ‘made contact’ for a former Barcelona player now that Tino Livramento has been ruled out with an injury.
The Magpies suffered a disappointing 2-0 defeat to Manchester City in the Carabao Cup semi-final on Tuesday night. It means they’ll take a two-goal deficit to the Etihad next month.
Eddie Howe suffered a further blow too, as during the game, right-back Tino Livramento, who’s been linked with Man City, suffered a hamstring injury. Scans after the game have revealed that Livramento will likely miss at least two months.
Howe said after the game that he was “absolutely devastated” for Livramento, and he provided an update which suggested that they could look to replace him in the transfer market. He said, “Tino’s information, we only got confirmation this morning, so we need to digest that and then see what we do.”
Newcastle ‘make contact’ for West Ham target
A full-back who Newcastle were linked with in the summer was Celta Vigo right-back Oscar Mingueza, and it seems they view him as a potential replacement for Livramento.
According to Spanish outlet AS, Newcastle have ‘made contact’ with the La Liga side over signing Mingueza, who has also been linked to West Ham and Juventus.
The 26-year-old has made 22 appearances for Celta Vigo this season, scoring one goal, and providing three assists. He came through the Barcelona academy, and joined Celta Vigo in 2022; He has since been a reliable full-back option for the Spanish club.
Mingueza has a release clause
The report by AS said that Celta Vigo are imminent that they don’t want to sell the Spanish defender in the January transfer window, and that an exit in the summer is more likely, as he is yet to sign a contract extension.
But, seeing as Newcastle need a right-back straight away, this would seem a closed door. However, the 26-year-old has a £17m release clause in his contract, so the Magpies could pay that and get a deal done quickly to help reinforce Howe’s defence.