Newcastle eye new deal for loyal servant and keep tabs on long-term successor

Newcastle United are interested in Bournemouth defender Illia Zabarnyi as a potential long-term solution – and hope to wrap up a contract extension for Fabian Schar.

While the final days of the January transfer window look set to be quiet at St James’ Park – for incomings at least – the club are carrying out background work on signings that can definitively lift the level of the squad in 2025.

Newcastle’s ability to spend within Profitability and Sustainability Rules (PSR) should have improved significantly by then and will be boosted by the £9million they are set to bank for Miguel Almiron when he completes his move back to Atlanta United this week.

The Magpies have a long-term need to sign a right winger and a right-footed centre-back and The i Paper understands that Ukraine international Zabarnyi is one of the players being considered by the club alongside targets in Europe. While there is no chance of him moving in January, Bournemouth may reassess Zabarnyi’s availability in the summer.

At 22 and with considerable Premier League experience across his two seasons on the south coast, he is part of a Cherries defence that is attracting plenty of interest from across Europe.

Bournemouth are battling with Newcastle for European qualification this season and the Magpies know they will be in a stronger position to recruit if they return to the Champions League next season. That is another reason why the club’s transfer chiefs are set to keep their powder dry this month.

With director of football Paul Mitchell looking to expand Newcastle’s transfer remit – and put the club in the market for some of the most promising talents across Europe – the club’s eventual objective is to be bringing in players of Zabarnyi’s ilk before there is a premium applied to their price. But attempts to kick-start their process in January have been hamstrung by their PSR position.

As The i Paper reported at the end of December, Newcastle were working on a deal to sign Abdukodir Khusanov before Manchester City took advantage of the club’s limitations surrounding financial fair play to sign him this month.

It is understood Newcastle also had an interest in another City new signing Juma Bah, the former Real Valladolid defender who was at the centre of a tapping up row last week when his club accused the Premier League champions of encouraging him to breach his contract. The 18-year-old has joined City and been loaned to RC Lens to aid his development.

Newcastle’s superb form has seen them return to the top five, responding to the heavy defeat by Bournemouth with a win over Southampton in which Dan Burn and Schar were partnered together while Sven Botman was on the bench.

That reflects manager Eddie Howe‘s continued faith in long-serving Schar, who is out of contract at the end of the season but in negotiations over an extension that all parties are keen on. Burn has already triggered a contract extension but the hope is that the 33-year-old Swiss defender will follow suit within weeks – with Newcastle understandably keen to retain a player whose influence is showing no signs of diminishing.

As for Almiron, Newcastle have sanctioned his return to the MLS after agreeing a deal worth in the region of £9m that will help with their PSR bottom line. While the move is not yet complete, there’s an expectation that the transfer will be complete before the weekend.

Almiron was given a send off by the club’s management at Southampton and Howe was not pushing for the Paraguay international to leave, as the transfer limits his options at right-wing. But when the Newcastle boss spoke about “business decisions” having to trump football logic at St James’ Park, it was with this sort of transfer in mind.

The club will hope that sitting on their hands this month gives them better options in the medium to long-term.