Sport: 'They'd ideally like...' - Waugh left 'surprised' as reveals January NUFC plan, could cost £70m

Newcastle United want to sign both Sven Botman and Diego Carlos during the January transfer window, according to The Athletic‘s Chris Waugh.

© Provided by Transfer Tavern Newcastle target Sven Botman

The lowdown

Waugh’s colleague David Ornstein has written that Newcastle have as much as £100m available to spend this month, and they’ve only used £12m of that so far to sign Kieran Trippier from Atletico Madrid.

A double swoop for Lille’s Botman and Sevilla’s Carlos could end up consuming the vast majority of that budget, though, with The Daily Mail‘s Simon Jones claiming that the duo could cost up to £70m.

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Newcastle tipped to sign 35-cap title winner in JanuaryThe former Tottenham right-back, capped 35 times by England, has been strongly linked with the St James' Park outfit ahead of next month's transfer window.

The latest

In The Athletic‘s matchday discussion on Saturday, a supporter asked Waugh if it was ‘likely to be one or the other’ of Botman or Carlos to be signed.

The journalist replied: “The plan seems to be both, Ben – which surprised me. I thought it would be one of the other, but they’d ideally like two signings.”

The verdict

How surprising is it that Newcastle are willing to plough so much money into their defence? Not very.

As per Understat, they have the joint-worst record in the Premier League in terms of goals conceded and the outright worst in terms of expected goals against. They are currently on course to concede a whopping 84, which would be only five short of the all-time record for a 20-team season in the league’s 30-year history.

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Newcastle are reportedly in contact with Arsenal over a deal to sign Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.According to the Mirror, the Magpies have made contact with Arsenal over a possible deal for the ex-Borussia Dortmund attacker.

The hope would be that Botman, who has been eyed by ‘an array of top clubs’, and Carlos, himself a former target of Liverpool and Manchester United, could turn a porous backline into a solid foundation. Waugh’s comments suggest that the Magpies mean business in trying to get at least one of them to Tyneside by the end of the month

In other news, Luke Edwards reveals Newcastle’s interest in this attacking talent

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