Newcastle line up Abde Ezzalzouli and Matias Fernandez-Pardo after Victor Munoz blow - Report

Newcastle United need to shake off the hammer blow of losing out on Victor Munoz and start looking at Plan B.

Liverpool swooped in at the last second to nab Victor Munoz after Newcastle thought they had a move sewn up for the 22-year-old winger.

After selling Anthony Gordon to Barcelona for £70 million, Newcastle are on the hunt for a replacement. A left winger would be good, but ideally, Newcastle need a forward with versatility to play right across the front three like Gordon could.

Victor Munoz would have fit that bill perfectly, which is why Liverpool were also so keen to sign him. Now Newcastle have to pivot, and the sooner the better.

Ross Wilson can't afford to dilly-dally, as other clubs are also on the hunt for similar players, and as we've seen, even when a deal looks good to go, it's not done until everything is signed.

Newcastle have alternatives to Victor Munoz lined up

Newcastle, thankfully, do have other targets in mind to replace Gordon, and the iPaper has reported that Wilson will now look at a deal for either 24-year-old Abde Ezzalzouli or Matias Fernandez-Pardo, the 21-year-old Lille star.

Abde has been a name we've seen a lot of already this summer, but the Real Betis winger picked up an injury with Morocco as they were preparing for the World Cup. The injury is serious enough that his World Cup was over before it began, but he's expected to be fine for pre-season, so he's still a viable option.

Meanwhile, Belgium international Matias Fernandez-Pardo has already made an impressive appearance at the World Cup, coming off the bench for Belgium in their draw with Egypt.

The report states that Newcastle are working on deals, but nothing is close yet. We've seen plenty of times before that Newcastle have the ability to spring a surprise in the transfer market, bringing in a player who was never mentioned. 

There's no reason to get too downhearted just yet

As we said after Munoz was announced as going to Liverpool, it wasn't so much about losing Munoz, as we don't know enough about him to know whether he'd be a good signing; it was just the action of losing out on a player after it looked like the deal was done.

Therefore, we're not too upset that we've had to move on to other targets. Matias Fernandez-Pardo looked good for Belgium against Egypt and there is a lot of buzz around Abde Ezzalzouli, so they don't seem like bad alternatives.

We'll just have to wait and see who we manage to get through the door.