Newcastle forced to ramp up pursuit of Barcelona defensive star as Eddie Howe hits panic mode over injuries

Newcastle United are reportedly ready to ramp up their pursuit of a top Barcelona defender in January as injuries continue to bite hard at St James’ Park.

The Magpies are in the midst of a growing injury crisis, with as many as 12 first-team players currently on the sidelines after Howe suffered another blow during the 2-0 loss at his old club Bournemouth on Saturday.

Miguel Almiron is the latest player expected to face a spell out after a recurrence of the hamstring he had last season.

The attacker joins high-profile absentees Callum Wilson, Alexander Isak, Sven Botman, Bruno Guimaraes, Dan Burn, Jacob Murphy, Harvey Barnes and Matt Targett on the sidelines.

Defensively, the absence of Botman and Burn has been huge for Howe and it appears he is looking to remedy that in January – even though the former could be back at some point this month.

Versatile Barca centre-back Andreas Christensen is the player on Newcastle’s radar, having had extensive experience playing in the Premier League with Chelsea.

However, Sport states that it would take a considerable effort from Newcastle to convince Barcelona or manager Xavi into a sale.

The newspaper explains that Christensen is one of the Nou Camp stars who is regarded as having high market value, given his time in England and also the fact that he is a regular with Spain.

Several clubs were known to be interested in the 32-year-old over the summer, with Newcastle among them, for a player who can play centrally, as a full-back or in a wing-back role.

And Sport states that the Magpies are ‘still very interested’ in the Denmark international.

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Barca determined to keep Toon target

The main issue for Newcastle is that Barcelona and the player are both completely uninterested in a potential exit, which would mean St James’ Park transfer chiefs to make an over-the-market-value bid for the player.

Alonso is often rotated in alongside other defenders at the Catalan side but Xavi still sees him as a key man he does not want to lose.

The defender’s current value is currently way down due to the fact that he will be out of contract next summer. However, Barcelona do have the option to extend his deal for a further year.

To that end, Newcastle will, more than likely, have to tempt Barca with a silly offer to convince them into a sale.

The Magpies are due back in action after the international break when they take on Chelsea at home in the Premier League.

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