The January transfer window is a time for football clubs to take stock. It’s a mid-season opportunity to fix problems, add missing pieces, and find a new spark that can push the team forward for the rest of the campaign.
For Newcastle United, this January presents a fascinating challenge. The team has shown flashes of its potential, but to secure a coveted European spot, the squad might need a little extra quality, particularly in the heart of the midfield.
This has led to early speculation about potential new arrivals, but also to a conversation about a player the club never really wanted to lose.
That player is Elliot Anderson. Last summer, in a move driven largely by the Premier League’s strict Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR), Newcastle made the difficult decision to sell the homegrown midfielder to Nottingham Forest for a fee of £35 million.
Anderson was a local Geordie who had come up through the club’s academy, and his sale was a painful reminder of the financial realities even wealthy clubs must face.
The emotion of that decision was brought back into focus this week as Newcastle prepares to face Forest. Manager Eddie Howe, a man who values loyalty and club identity, spoke openly about his regret.
He called it a “real shame” that a player the club had invested so much time in developing could not be utilized at his boyhood club, and he admitted he would “love him to” return to Newcastle one day.
Howe’s comments highlight the delicate balance a manager must strike between the financial needs of the club and the emotional connection to its players.
While the door may be open for an Anderson return in the distant future, the immediate focus is on strengthening the current options.
According to various reports, one of the primary targets is Athletic Bilbao’s Spanish midfielder, Oihan Sancet. A potential move for him could cost around £61 million, a significant investment that shows the club’s ambition to add a dynamic, goal-scoring threat from the center of the park.
However, a more surprising and complex storyline has also emerged from Italy. It involves Newcastle’s own Sandro Tonali.
The Italian midfielder has become a vital part of Eddie Howe’s team, bringing energy, tenacity, and technical quality to the midfield.
His performances have not gone unnoticed, and reports suggest that Juventus, now led by former Liverpool executive Damien Comolli, are huge admirers.
The speculation is that Juventus are interested in a deal for their midfielder, Manuel Locatelli, but may only be willing to do business if Tonali is included in the negotiations, potentially as part of a swap deal.
From a purely statistical standpoint, this proposed swap raises questions. This season, Tonali has been more creative, contributing more chances and an assist for Newcastle. A direct comparison of their current league campaigns illustrates their different profiles:
| Metric (2025/26) | Manuel Locatelli (Serie A) | Sandro Tonali (Premier League) |
|---|---|---|
| Chances Created | 4 | 10 |
| Pass Accuracy | 86.2% | 83.8% |
| Duels Won | 22 | 21 |
| Goals | 0 | 0 |
| Assists | 0 | 1 |
While Locatelli is a fine player, he is also two years older than Tonali. For Newcastle to part with a key, younger asset for an older model in the same position would be a puzzling piece of business.
It would seem to make very little sense for a club that is trying to build a team for the long term. The idea of using a player like Dusan Vlahovic as a makeweight in the deal is also intriguing, but it doesn’t directly address the void that would be left by Tonali’s departure.
The world of football transfers is never straightforward, and “stranger things have happened,” as the saying goes. But for Newcastle, the most logical path in January seems clear.
It is about adding quality, not creating a new problem by subtracting a fundamental piece of the team’s core. The pursuit of a player like Oihan Sancet represents a forward-looking ambition.
A potential swap involving Sandro Tonali feels like a sideways step at best. As the window approaches, the club’s decision-makers will have to be very shrewd, ensuring any move they make truly makes the team stronger, not just different.
