Outstanding Aladji Bamba stats from Opta as French midfielder heads to Newcastle
Newcastle United are awaiting the arrival of 20-year-old France U20 midfielder Aladji Bamba after agreeing a fee with Monaco.
Once again this summer, Newcastle have been operating in the shadows to get a deal done for a promising young midfielder.
As with Sean Steur, the news of Aladji Bamba's impending move to Newcastle only broke after the fee had been agreed and the player had been given permission to fly to Newcastle.
A £34 million deal has reportedly been agreed between Newcastle and Monaco for the 20-year-old defensive midfielder.
Aladji Bamba came out of nowhere
Nothing had even been remotely mentioned around Newcastle's interest in Bamba until Thursday morning, and when the story came to light, he was already on his way to Tyneside.
A medical is booked in already, so this one could be done in the next 48 hours. But who even is Aladji Bamba?
Honestly, we have no idea, but Opta Joe dropped a stat on X this morning that has us very excited. Last season, Bamba won 9.1 duels per 90 minutes. The most of any player in Ligue 1 who played more than 500 minutes.
He's coming in as a defensive midfielder, and this definitely suggests that's where he's going to shine.
Will Bamba go straight into the starting XI?
Unlike Sean Steur, we're expecting Bamba to be a signing to go straight into the starting XI, or at least to be expected to be battling for a place in it.
As things stand, Bamba's main competition is Bruno Guimaraes, Joelinton, Jacob Ramsey and Lewis Miley, but Bamba looks to be a completely different animal to any of those, so it's going to depend greatly on what Eddie Howe's plans are next season.
If we're going to start playing an established number six, then Bamba will be that man, but if we're sticking with the same old tired 4-3-3, then he may have to work a lot harder to earn his place in the starting XI.
What is promising here is that we're finally going to have options. A midfield made up of very different players that gives us an ability to change things on the fly. Now we just need Eddie Howe to actually do so.
