Reports in Portugal suggest that Newcastle could be on the brink of a huge transfer deal - but what would their target bring to St. James’ Park?

It’s seldom a good idea to read too much into transfer rumours before the summer gets underway in earnest – but the Portuguese media simply can’t let go of reports that Newcastle United have taken the lead in the race to sign Sporting defender Ousmane Diomande, and that’s the kind of potential deal that quickens the pulse a little.

Diomande is one of a number of young centre-halves who have worked their way onto the shortlists of pretty much all of Europe’s top clubs, and the assumption has been that all the usual superclub suspects would be making a bid – but apparently Newcastle have jumped the queue, becoming the first club to make contact with Sporting and the player’s representatives. That’s according to newspaper A Bola, anyway.

And while Newcastle’s pursuit may have looked a little optimistic at first glance, the same newspaper has now reported that Sporting have decided to sell him in order to try to hold onto his defensive partner Gonçalo Inácio and striker Viktor Gyökeres. That means that they may not even have to pay the entirety of his €80m (£69m) release fee, which helps too. Things are slowly starting to fall into place.

For all of the frustration this season has brought, signing a prospect of Diomande’s quality would represent a big step in the right direction. Still just 20 years old, the Ivorian is already playing at a high level and demonstrating elite qualities in a number of areas. There are some rough edges to smooth off, as you’d expect of someone who isn’t old enough to buy a beer in the United States, but he looks like the real deal – and like a good fit for Eddie Howe’s tactics.

For starters, he’s the kind of defender who likes to get at attackers directly rather than sitting off and waiting for them to come to him. That has downsides – he tends to commit a high number of fouls lunging in and leaves too much space in behind when he gets beaten – but his tackling is good enough to make sure that he wins in one-on-ones more often than not.

He's also got the size and strength, combined with a very decent turn of pace, to help him close gaps quickly and shut attacks down at the source. And when he wins the ball upfield, he knows just what to do with it.

His passing quality would shame many Premier League midfielders, and as well as having a 91.2% pass accuracy rating, he also generates more than five ‘progressive’ passes per game – that’s passes where the ball gets either straight into the box or at least 10 yards downfield. In other words, he isn’t just shutting attacks down, he’s starting his own.

He's also got good close control and confidence with the ball at his feet, so if a pass isn’t on he can usually play his way out of trouble. All he needs to do, really, is learn when to defy his instincts and sit back a little and close off the passing or shooting angle rather than committing himself. Once he figures that out, there won’t be many weaknesses to his ground game.

His aerial prowess is, admittedly, a little suspect, at least relative to a powerfully-built 6’3” frame. He loses a lot of aerial duels, so whether that’s a problem with his initial positioning or his skill at using his frame, there’s some coaching work to do there, too.

But then, the weakness Diomande has are all made a little less problematic when you play with an aggressive and narrow pressing system, and that’s precisely what Howe likes to do. The Sporting defender should fit right into the way Newcastle play, with the caveat that he’s spent his two seasons of senior football on the right-side of a back three rather than in a back four. There would be some adapting to do, on top of the usual time it might take for a young man moving to a new country for the first time to get used to their surrounding. And he’d have to get to grips with the Geordie accent, too…

The point being that young talents are never guaranteed to live up to expectations – but Diomande is already playing at a very, very high level, appears to be improving rapidly, and has the natural qualities to become a world-class centre-half given the right coaching and encouragement. He’s the kind of player who can become a fan favourite and the face of a team very quickly.

Newcastle, meanwhile, are in the process of redeveloping a team which has still has a few holes despite the substantial investments made in the squad. At centre-half, players like Sven Botman and Jamaal Lascelles have been stricken by injuries while Fabian Schär is getting a little long in the tooth. With players like Tino Livramento and Lewis Hall, the Magpies have demonstrated a commitment to spending on youth – but Diomande might become the most talented player on the books right away.

So will they sign him? Well, like we said, no matter how persistent the reports might be, it’s a little early to get too confident. Just about every team in the Big Five leagues who needs a centre-back has been tentatively linked with Diomande, as well as his team-mate Inácio, and it’s highly unlikely that Newcastle would get a clear run at signing him. But if they can – and it’s still very much an if – then they almost certainly should.