Newcastle United want to sign Aston Villa defender Tyrone Mings – report
Newcastle are targeting Aston Villa defender Tyrone Mings for a summer transfer as Eddie Howe looks to reunite with him, The Mirror reports.
The Magpies boss originally signed the England international at previous side Bournemouth in 2015 and apparently sees him as the “last piece of jigsaw” at St James’ Park.
Mings would reportedly cost £35million and manager Steven Gerrard could potentially be convinced the deal is worth it if he can bring in Liverpool defender Joe Gomez.
According to The Mirror: “Gerrard would see it as a good ‘swap’ if his trusted chief executive Christian Purslow could engineer the deal with Liverpool and pull off some early business.”
The Villans boss has proven to be an aggressive operator in the transfer market and could also sanction exits for Matt Targett, Leon Bailey, Morgan Sanson and Marvellous Nakamba if it would raise funds to chase his own targets.
Worthwhile?
As the primary captain in the squad Mings is a central figure at Villa Park, and has only missed four games in all competitions across the entire season.
He has become a regular in Gareth Southgate’s England set up in his time at the club, and at 29 should be in his prime as a centre-back.
But Gerrard clearly rates Gomez very highly, who is five years younger and would feasibly be cheaper as a back-up player at Anfield.
If he can swap the pair and have some money left over for his ambitious plans in the market then it might make sense.
But it would be somewhat of a risk to lose the leader at the heart of the defence, although goalkeeper Emi Martinez is still a big character.
A central defensive group comprising of Gomez, Ezri Konsa, Callum Chambers and Kortney Hause doesn’t seem like enough, especially with Konsa set to miss the start of the season after sustaining a major knee injury.
So unless there are other summer targets at the position, losing Mings would the team light.
In other Aston Villa news, the club are interested in Sunderland’s Dan Neil.