Newcastle Target Double Deal for Barcelona Duo Carles Aleña & Philippe Coutinho

Newcastle have added midfielder Carles Aleña to a summer transfer shopping list which includes his Barcelona teammate Philippe Coutinho, according to a report.

With the proposed takeover of the Magpies by Amanda Staveley’s PCP Capital Partners and the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia nearing completion, there could soon be a major injection of transfer funds at St. James’ Park

Both Aleña, who has spent the season at Real Betis, and Coutinho, on loan at Bayern Munich, are seemingly out of favour at Camp Nou.

Spanish outlet Marca have suggested that a newly wealthy Newcastle could look to take advantage of the two players being frozen out in Catalonia by targeting a double deal.

Aleña, a product of Barcelona’s famed La Masia academy, struggled to reproduce the early promise which saw him nominated for the 2018 Golden Boy award, making just 24 league appearances over the course of four seasons with the Blaugrana.

The Spain Under-21 international was sent on loan to Betis in January after failing to break into the midfield at Camp Nou, and was starting consistently in a deeper midfield role for Los Verdiblancos until the suspension of Spanish football.

Coutinho, meanwhile, has notoriously failed to rediscover the swagger that provoked Barcelona to cough up a club-record €120m for his services when he was at Liverpool.

Having managed just five league goals for Barça last year, Coutinho was shipped out temporarily to Bayern, where he has experienced slightly more success, scoring eight goals in 22 league appearances with Die Roten chasing a 30th league title.

This is not the first time that Coutinho has been subject to interest from England after leaving Anfield, with Tottenham coming close to snaring the Brazilian playmaker last summer before their then-manager Mauricio Pochettino pulled out of the deal.

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