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Newcastle Targets Højbjerg as Guimarães Replacement
Newcastle United have moved quickly to plug the gap left by Bruno Guimarães, and they are closing in on a familiar Premier League face. Olympique de Marseille’s Pierre-Emile Højbjerg is on the brink of a return to England, with a deal between the clubs close to completion, according to Foot Mercato.
The proposed fee is around €15 million, a figure that suits both sides for very different reasons. For Newcastle, it represents a relatively modest outlay for a 31-year-old with deep Premier League experience at Southampton and Tottenham Hotspur. For Marseille, it is a badly needed injection of cash at a time when the club’s finances demand sales as much as signings.
On the Canebière, Højbjerg has been far more than a squad piece. He arrived two years ago and immediately imposed his authority in midfield, becoming a fixture in the starting XI. In his first season, he started all 32 of his appearances. The second campaign underlined his importance even more: 43 games, 40 of them from the start, plus eight outings on Champions League nights.
That level of reliability is exactly what Newcastle are buying. With Guimarães gone to Arsenal at 29, the midfield needed not just a name, but a backbone. Højbjerg offers that: positional discipline, tactical maturity, and a readiness to take on heavy minutes in a demanding league.
For Marseille, the equation is harsher. Letting go of one of their on-field leaders is a sporting blow, but the reality of “limited resources” has boxed the club into a corner. The sale helps “replenish their coffers” and nudges them toward the financial stability their board has been chasing.
If the final details fall into place this week as expected, Højbjerg will step back into a league he knows well, swapping the Mediterranean for Tyneside and trading Champions League memories with OM for the challenge of anchoring a reshaped Newcastle midfield. The question now is simple: can his experience steady a side recalibrating after the loss of its Brazilian heartbeat?
