Newcastle set sights on Brentford player who ‘always puts the team first’
Newcastle are eyeing a January move for one of Brentford’s top performers this season as they aim to qualify for the Champions League once again.
Newcastle wanted to prove to the rest of the Premier League that they had fully established themselves among the elite clubs over the summer, but things did not quite pan out the way they would have liked.
They routinely missed out on their top transfer targets, with Hugo Ekitike joining Liverpool, Bryan Mbeumo moving to Man United and Benjamin Sesko leaving RB Leipzig for United too, among many others.
Eddie Howe was eventually able to get a few key captures over the line as Nick Woltemade joined Newcastle and Jacob Ramsey arrived from Aston Villa, but their squad has not improved a whole lot and they struggled in the early stages of this season as a result.
The Magpies have returned to form in recent weeks with wins in consecutive games against Union Saint-Gilloise and Nottingham Forest, but they are already planning for the new year with a Brentford star on their radar.
Newcastle scouts watching Igor Thiago with potential January move in pipeline
Brazilian striker Igor Thiago has been in fantastic form for Brentford so far this season, with four goals in seven Premier League appearances as he starts to show what he is made of following an injury-hit 2024-25 campaign.
Newcastle’s new frontman Woltemade has had an equally decent start to the new season, with four goals in six games, but Yoane Wissa is currently out injured and is yet to even play for the Magpies since his move from the Bees.
According to a new report from Chronicle Live, Brentford’s Thiago has caught the eye of Newcastle scouts once more this season, after he was previously eyed by head of recruitment Steve Nickson before the PIF takeover.
Signing a senior striker is not at the top of Newcastle’s priority list, but a January move is a possibility, and Nickson is still reportedly “aware” of the former Club Brugge forward’s talents and potential availability.
What Keith Andrews has said about Thiago amid fine Brentford form
Thiago is among the most clinical strikers in the top-flight right now, with his four league goals coming from just five shots on target this season.
He cost Brentford £30m to sign from Club Brugge in 2024, but only played eight times in his debut campaign at the club and failed to score after suffering separate serious meniscus and knee injuries.
His decent showings this season should come as no surprise, given he netted prolifically in Belgium, and Bees head-coach Keith Andrews could not think any higher of him right now as he keeps the club above the top-flight bottom three.
He recently praised the 24-year-old after his goal against Man United, saying: “(Thiago) always puts the team first, sometimes at the detriment of his own performance. I think he’s such a team player. He’s getting real rhythm in his game now and confidence in his game, and he’s shown exactly what he’s all about and why the football club brought him here 15, 16 months ago.
“He was a big part of our dressing room last year with the type of character that he is. Very, very positive individual. And again, I’m touching it, just really, really selfless.”
The West London club struggled over the summer as a mass exodus saw the likes of Thomas Frank, Bryan Mbeumo and Wissa depart for pastures new, so they will want to keep hold of Thiago for the whole season at least, and a January move will not be easy for Newcastle to pull off.