Newcastle open talks to sign “one of the world’s best”

Eddie Howe has given Newcastle United no shortage of belief and determination over his near-five-year tenure, leading them across two Champions League campaigns and ending many decades of drought on Tyneside to lift the Carabao Cup.

Beating Liverpool at Wembley in March 2025 was surely the pinnacle of this project, but with the following season incredibly difficult for the Toon persuasion, it looked like that would be how Howe would be remembered, at grave risk of being sacked toward the end of March, after Sunderland completed a double over their bitter rivals.

This is all to say that Howe has been handed a reprieve, now tasked with taking the Magpies back up to the nest they made for themselves at the top of the Premier League. This year they finished 12th.

Complications have already sprouted up. Anthony Gordon has been sold to Barcelona for £69m, and the likes of Sandro Tonali and Tino Livramento are wanted by Premier League rivals.

Replacing Gordon has surely got to be the first port of call, though.

Newcastle in talks for title-winning Gordon replacement

Gordon leaves with Newcastle’s blessing. He might have been a focal point for the club across his three-and-a-half-year stay, but he also blew hot and cold, and £69m is no small sum for an ambitious outfit tackling the absence of European football.

Last summer’s failures tell a cautionary tale, though, with Alexander Isak poorly replaced, and St. James’ Park suffering because of it. That cannot happen again, and Howe needs to replace Gordon with a star who will bring goals and flavour to Newcastle’s attack.

Wouldn’t it be interesting if that replacement turned out to be Marcus Rashford.

According to reports in Spain, Newcastle have lodged initial enquiries, opening talks with Manchester United to discuss what it might take to lure Rashford away from Old Trafford this summer. They are mentioned along a host of further Premier League outfits such as Tottenham Hotspur to do so.

Barcelona are hardly swimming in bank notes, but they are no longer in an imperilled financial position. Therefore, it’s understood that Rashford may yet retain his place at Camp Nou and play alongside Gordon.

Newcastle are going to need to knuckle down if they hope to prevent that.

Why Newcastle could replace Gordon with Rashford

As is the case with Tottenham, Rashford has little interest in joining Newcastle this summer due to their confinement to domestic football. However, if Barcelona opt out, the 28-year-old will need to consider his options.

Rashford is one of the most notable Premier League forwards of his generation, synonymous with the post-Fergie era at Manchester United – and all the ups and downs that have come with it.

He has scored 89 goals and supplied 42 assists in the English top flight, but he fell by the wayside under Ruben Amorim, and spent this season on loan with La Blaugrana, winning La Liga and being described as “one of the best players in the world” when at his best by Fabrizio Romano.

If Newcastle sign Rashford this summer and capture the form he has shown under Hansi Flick this season, they could be in for a treat.

Even if you were to consider last season, when Rashford hopped about the Premier League, you’d see that the La Liga champion has sharper instincts in the final third, scoring six times and assisting three goals across only 16 starts, creating eight big chances.

And across all competitions, the England winger, who will fight Gordon for a place on the left of Thomas Tuchel’s system, notched 14 goals and assists apiece. The Magpies have seen first-hand this season just how dangerous Rashford is when on his A-game.

Gordon has been a talisman for Newcastle, but he has also ebbed and flowed, endured tough spells. He only scored six Premier League goals this year, the same as last season.

Rashford has hit higher beats in his homeland, and he has rediscovered his Midas touch and title-winning edge in Spain. It’s exactly what Newcastle need to bounce back and ease the loss of their dynamic attacker.