How Newcastle can seal dream Jaissle signing

Where will Newcastle United finish at the end of the 2026/27 Premier League season?

It’s the million-dollar question, right? How exactly Matthias Jaissle’s side will fare in this brand new world is anyone’s guess, with St. James’ Park not rocked but capsized by the churning stream of setbacks this summer – and last.

Sandro Tonali, Anthony Gordon, and now Bruno Guimaraes. All headed off for pastures new. That’s a considerable chunk of Newcastle’s DNA, and that’s without even addressing Eddie Howe‘s decision to step down from his post after almost five years.

It’s a real shame that it came to this. Howe’s Magpies were initially revered for their diligence and precision in the transfer market. That all changed one year ago.

How Howe’s Newcastle tenure came crumbling down

Amanda Staveley pledged to deliver the Premier League title to Newcastle fans across a five-to-ten-year period. They won the Carabao Cup after only three.

However, the Toon have since fallen, with Alexander Isak’s toys-out-of-pram approach to signing for Liverpool seeing Howe’s dynasty unspool like a loose kite in the wind.

Newcastle spent all summer trying, and failing, to effectively replace their attacking talisman. That plague has been carried over to the 2026 summer window, with the likes of Johan Manzambi and Victor Munoz among the players to have rejected the Toon.

It can’t go on like this, can it? Hopefully, with Jaissle at the helm, the slate will have been wiped clean. Even though Guimaraes is joining Arsenal, and Tonali has signed for Spurs in a £100m deal, there’s got to be a sense that Newcastle can bounce back.

Ultimately, though, this endless slew of setbacks caused Howe to accept that he had taken the club as far as he possibly could. If that’s not a measure of how dour things have become, what is?

REUTERS/Scott Heppell

So many missed transfer targets. The likes of Manzambi are latter setbacks, but the seeds were planted some time ago, with Liverpool’s Dominik Szoboszlai hijacked in a £60m deal back in 2023.

The 25-year-old’s physical profile was considered perfect, but now, Jaissle could find Newcastle the perfect belated solution, even after already bringing in two midfielders in the form of Sean Steur and Aladji Bamba.

Newcastle in talks to sign their own Szoboszlai

Newcastle have missed out on any number of top transfer targets over the past several years, and it must be frustrating that someone such as Szoboszlai isn’t there right now to step in for the likes of Tonali and Guimaraes.

As per the Daily Mail, Jaissle might have a solution. The German coach wants to sign Luka Sucic, with Newcastle having ‘asked about’ a possible summer move for the 23-year-old, suggesting that talks have been held.

Sociedad signed Sucic from Salzburg for just £8m in 2024, and he has kicked on over the past several years, though after only securing ten starts in La Liga last season (scoring three goals), there’s a sense that a change of scenery might allow the Croatia international to reboot his career and fulfil his potential.

There’s plenty of reason for Magpies supporters to be excited. One scouting network noted that he is “pretty similar to Dominik Szoboszlai” in regard to his physicality and ball-striking ability.

Last year, Mohamed Salah remarked that the Hungary captain has grown into “one of the best players in the world“. He thrived for a struggling Anfield side last season, making the missed attempt to sign him back in 2023 all the more difficult. Newcastle would have a fully-fledged superstar in their ranks right now, ready to take the focal baton from Guimaraes, had they only got the deal over the line.

The later domino effect has battered and bruised the Toon, but this would be a shrewd way for Jaissle to start putting things right. Sucic hasn’t quite found his footing over two terms in Spain, but in the Austrian Bundesliga, he was phenomenal, averaging 4.5 duels, 2.1 dribbles and 5.3 ball recoveries per game as he powered his way from midfield into attack.

For sure, there’s something Szoboszlai-esque about him there. It’s surely no coincidence that the two attacking midfielders grew together at Salzburg, developed their skillsets and challenged each other.

In February 2023, Liverpool held internal talks over a potential deal to sign Sucic from Salzburg. They didn’t proceed, instead swiping Szoboszlai from Newcastle months later.

Reuters/Kevin Sousa

This could be a neat little bit of vengeance for the Toon persuasion, signing a fast-rising attacking midfielder who shares a number of properties with Szoboszlai.

Indeed, he has the perfect skill set for Jaissle, who wants to reunite with his former protege.