Fabrizio Romano now says Newcastle United will move for Bournemouth centre-back should they qualify for Champions League

Fans are expecting a big summer in terms of transfers for Newcastle United are having to play the PSR game for the last three windows.

The initial over-spending following the takeover has bitten the club hard lately and as a result, outgoing transfers have been the priority over incoming, but after posting a profit for the first time in five years and not really dipping into the transfer market, Newcastle should be in a much better position to buy this summer.

On top of that, there’s a chance that Newcastle could qualify for the Champions League again, which will practically force Paul Mitchell into the transfer market as there’s no way this current squad can compete in the Champions League and still perform domestically without repeating the injury crisis of last season.

There are a few positions that need bulking up regardless of whether Newcastle are playing in Europe next season, but the quality of those additions will likely be determined by European status.

Newcastle could look to activate the summer release clause for Dean Huijsen

On his YouTube channel, Fabrizio Romano has put Newcastle’s name alongside Chelsea and Bayern Munich as holding an interest in Bournemouth centre-back Dean Huijsen, who is having a fantastic season with the Cherries.

Newcastle were looking at Huijsen before he moved to Bournemouth, and now that they have seen how well the 19-year-old has handled the move to the Premier League, they could be tempted to activate his release clause in the summer. The actual fee hasn’t been reported, but some reports have suggested that the clause, which becomes active in the summer, could see Huijsen move for around £55 million.

Huijsen has developed a strong partnership at Bournemouth alongside Illia Zabarnyi who is another player Newcastle are looking at.

Chelsea will be huge competition for Huijsen’s signature

Romano placed a lot of emphasis on Chelsea being keen on Huijsen, making it sound like they would be the most likely to be first in line when the clause becomes active.

He also mentioned how Newcastle are more likely to go for Huijsen should they qualify for the Champions League.

This one feels like it has a high likelihood of being true given Newcastle’s past admiration for Huijsen, and given how well he’s done this season, we certainly wouldn’t begrudge paying £55 million for someone with such a big future ahead of him.