Senior Newcastle scouts spotted watching £25m-rated German - Report

Newcastle United have scouted a Celtic star as the watchlist of sporting director Paul Mitchell continues to expand.

Chief scout Steve Nickson recently went to watch key Toon target Bryan Mbeumo at Brentford Gtech Community Stadium, while a separate Newcastle scout travelled to watch Sporting Lisbon centre-back Ousmane Diomande, according to reports in Portugal.

The green side of Glasgow is the latest port of call for the Magpies, with Mitchell thought to be keen to bolster our scouting network in Scotland.

Newcastle scouts watching Celtic star

According to The Chronicle’s Lee Ryder, Newcastle recently sent 'senior scouts' to keep an eye on Celtic’s right wing star Nicolas Kuhn. 

The German has 16 goals and 11 assists this season to send Brendan Rogers’ side flying to the top of the Scottish Premier League. He's also impressed in the Champions League, bagging a brace in a 3-1 win over RB Leipzig.

The 25-year-old is contracted with Parkhead until 2029 and is thought to be available for £20-25m, joining the list of 'ones to watch' in 2025 after recent links to the likes of Tyler Dibling, Johan Bakayoko and Antoine Semenyo, to name a few. 

Ryder also states: ‘Newcastle are trying to beef up their scouting network in Scotland but have sent senior scouts to Parkhead this term with Kuhn the stand out performer.’

A quiet end to January?

If Newcastle had made sales early in the January transfer window then I believe some of that would have been reinvested into the first team.

However, as this stage it sounds increasingly likely that the club will opt against recruiting this month, with the focus expected to be on a wave of arrivals after the upcoming PSR deadline on June 30th.

The impending sale of Miguel Almiron may make funds available, yet the likes of Sean Longstaff, Kieran Trippier and Harvey Barnes were also linked with winter moves that haven’t come to fruition, with offers for Lloyd Kelly also coming in well below the club's asking price. 

There felt an outside chance that the well-scouted Tyler Dibling may arrive to reinforce our attacking options when Miggy departs, but a recent ankle injury to the 18-year-old ruling him out for 4-6 weeks makes this an increasingly unlikely possibility.

With at least 90 minutes watching Kuhn in person then perhaps a deal could be reached before the end of the month, but our main targets of Johan Bakayoko, Bryan Mbeumo and Dibling will have to wait for the summer.