OPINION
One of the highlights of Newcastle United’s season so far has been their strength in defence.
Whilst their attack took a while to get firing on all cylinders, Steve Bruce will have been delighted with how his back five have performed despite a number of different changes in the opening four months of the Premier League.
Newcastle are currently two points behind fifth-placed Sheffield United in the top flight after back-to-back wins against West Ham United and Bournemouth.
The ability to come from behind and win against Bournemouth will have massively pleased Bruce and it was a relatively straight forward win apart from one blow for the Magpies.
After an altercation with Callum Wilson, Newcastle captain Jamaal Lascelles has been ruled out until January, which without looking too deep into it, looks like a massive blow.
Even with Lascelles out for months, Sky Sports journalist Keith Downie has revealed that Fabian Schar and Florian Lejeune are set to return for their next game against Aston Villa.
That means that alongside Federico Fernandez, Ciaran Clark, and Paul Dummett, Bruce has plenty of options to cover the absent Lascelles.
Despite having a number of options available at St James’ Park, it could appear that Newcastle are set to try and add another fresh face to their ranks.
Takvim have reported that the Magpies have entered the hunt to sign Besiktas defender Domagoj Vida, with West Ham, Brighton, and Norwich City all interested.
The Turkish outlet claims that Newcastle could be preparing an £8.5million offer for the Croatian international alongside Brighton.
The Magpies definitely have to think twice about this before wasting money, and realise they need to give the chance for a number of defenders already at the club to fill in.
Newcastle have clearly overreacted to Lascelles’ injury set back, and any move for a replacement is surely unnecessary as Bruce already has enough options to cover his captain effectively.