Pundit tips two Premier League stars for Newcastle transfers with Pope replacement mooted

Gabby Agbonlahor thinks Manchester City midfielder Kalvin Phillips and Arsenal goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale should sign for Newcastle United.

The Geordies finished an impressive fourth in the Premier League table last term as they qualified for the Champions League and reached the final of the Carabao Cup.

Eddie Howe’s men only lost five Premier League matches on their way to a memorable season with the club spending money on Sandro Tonali – who is one month into a ten month ban from football after breaking gambling rules – Harvey Barnes and Tino Livramento in an effort to improve their squad.

Newcastle have had a solid start to the new campaign and sit in seventh position, eight points off leaders Man City, while they are through to the Carabao Cup quarter-finals.

They are having a bit of a tricky time in the Champions League, though, with back-to-back defeats to Borussia Dortmund denting their chances of qualifying despite a brilliant 4-1 victory against Paris Saint-Germain at St James’ Park earlier in the competition.

But it is definitely still doable for Newcastle to qualify for the latter stages and they will be hoping they can in order to attract new faces in January.

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Phillips is one player who has been heavily linked to Newcastle ahead of the winter transfer window after making just four starts in all competitions for Man City since leaving Leeds United for the Etihad Stadium in the summer of 2022.

And former Aston Villa striker Agbonlahor reckons Newcastle should try and sign Phillips in January, he told talkSPORT: “I think that Newcastle will look at Kalvin Phillips.

“Neves would be amazing for them, he’s a top player, but I do think that Kalvin Phillips would make sense. Manchester City don’t really want him.”

In other events, Arsenal are facing Brentford over the weekend with Aaron Ramsdale set to start in goal in the Premier League for the first time since mid-September with David Raya ineligible to play his parent club.

But Agbonlahor reckons Ramsdale will be feeling the pressure, the pundit added: “It’ll be a tough game and he knows that all eyes are going to be on him because he hasn’t played for so long and this is his chance to shine.

“There’s a lot of pressure on Ramsdale but he has to go in January. Arteta has made it clear.”

When suggested to him that Ramsdale could move to Chelsea or Bayern Munich, Agbonlahor suggested the Magpies:”I’m saying Newcastle. It’s Newcastle or Chelsea for me, because Pope’s a top shot-stopper but he can’t play with his feet.

“Every Premier League club near the top has a goalkeeper that can play out from the back and Pope can’t. That’s the reason that he’ll maybe miss out on going to the Euros with England, because he can’t play from the back.

“I think that Ramsdale to Newcastle [could happen], but Chelsea, their goalkeeper isn’t great, Sanchez.”