By admin 
Despite Eddie Howe’s announcement that business has been completed following the purchase of outstanding teenager Lewis Hall from Chelsea, Newcastle United’s transfer activity may not be over.
Who might Newcastle bring in?
According to Portuguese source Record (via Chronicle Live), the Magpies, along with Premier League rivals Manchester United, are keeping a close eye on Sporting Lisbon defender Goncalo Inacio’s improvement.
This follows the 21-year-old’s contract renewal with the Primeira Liga club, who increased his release clause from €45 million (£39 million) to €60 million (£51 million).
Having signed Sandro Tonali, Harvey Barnes, Tino Livramento and now Hall this summer, it’s understandable that the St. James’ Park side have depleted their war chest, but they consider the availability of Inacio regardless.
How good is Goncalo Inacio?
The Newcastle ship is oiled, bolstered and ready to emulate last season’s success and forge a bid for top-four once again, and having dismantled Aston Villa 5-1 in the Premier League season opener, there is certainly little sign of ring rust.
Howe’s system is built on unity and togetherness; the Magpies have risen so emphatically up the divisional ladder after astute transfer work dovetailed with the actual implementation on the pitch.
The defence was one of the meanest around last year, with Newcastle in fact concluding the 2022/23 league term with the Premier League’s joint-best defence (alongside champions Manchester City), with such defensive resilience merely a by-product of this immovable cohesion.
Adding Inacio to the ranks could prove to be a masterstroke; the 21-year-old defender is swiftly establishing himself as one of Europe’s finest ball-playing centre-halves, having earned an average Sofascore rating of 7.01 in the league last term, completing 90% of his passes, hailed as “immense” and as a “dominator’ at the back by analyst Raj Chohan.