---
title: "Newcastle: Attila Szalai on Magpies’ radar"
canonical: "https://www.footballtransfertavern.com/attila-szalai-newcastle-transfer-target/"
type: "post"
language: "en-GB"
author: "David Comerford"
section: "Newcastle United"
published: "2022-01-18T16:05:36Z"
modified: "2022-01-18T16:05:36Z"
---

# Newcastle: Attila Szalai on Magpies’ radar

**Newcastle United are one of the clubs interested in Fenerbache centre-back Attila Szalai, according to [Sky Sports News](https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11095/12518542/attila-szalai-west-ham-newcastle-showing-interest-in-fenerbahce-central-defender).**

### The lowdown

With less than two weeks remaining in the January transfer window, the Magpies are in the market for a central defender. Newcastle have conceded [43 goals](https://www.skysports.com/premier-league-table) in their 20 Premier League matches so far – an average of 2.15 per game – and their record for [expected goals against](https://understat.com/league/EPL) is the worst in the division.

They had hoped to sign Sven Botman from Lille, but [encountered so much resistance](https://twitter.com/David_Ornstein/status/1480563587819180036) from the reigning French champions that they opted to move on to other targets.

Szalai was at the centre of a bizarre episode last month when Hungary manager Marco Rossi declared that a move to Chelsea was a [‘done deal’](https://football-italia.net/its-a-done-deal-rossi-reveals-szalais-imminent-chelsea-move/), only for no transfer to materialise.

### The latest

According to [Sky Sports News](https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11095/12518542/attila-szalai-west-ham-newcastle-showing-interest-in-fenerbahce-central-defender), Newcastle are rivalling fellow Premier League club West Ham United and Serie A giants AC Milan in the race for Szalai’s signature.

The expectation is that he would cost somewhere ‘in the region’ of £16.7m.

[embed.podcasts.apple.com (embedded)](https://embed.podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-football-terrace/id1603861145?itsct=podcast_box_player&itscg=30200&ls=1&theme=auto)

### The verdict

Szalai [has been a regular](https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/attila-szalai/leistungsdaten/spieler/263380) in his first full season in Turkey following a move from Apollon Limassol a year ago, starting 17 out of a possible 21 Super Lig matches and four out of six Europa League group stage games.

His ‘progression’ in Istanbul has been hailed as ‘unbelievable’ by football journalist [Ben Bocsak](https://twitter.com/BenBocsak/status/1390626009473507330), while he also [played every minute](https://www.whoscored.com/Players/317508/Show/Attila-Szalai) for Hungary in their ‘[Group of Death](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-06-15/euro-2020-group-f-france-germany-hungary-portugal-group-of-death/100215276#:~:text=Wednesday's%20Euro%202020%20fixtures%20feature,called%20%22group%20of%20death%22.)‘ at last summer’s European Championship, taking on Portugal, France and Germany.

The defender was one of his country’s standout performers at the finals, [leading the way](https://twitter.com/Squawka/status/1415328985161125890) for passes into the final third over any other player and also ranking highly for ball recoveries. That was enough to earn him a spot in [Squawka’s under-23 team of the tournament](https://twitter.com/Squawka/status/1415295024170893314).

This is all really encouraging for Newcastle fans as their club pursue a much-needed defensive reinforcement.

**In other news, [Newcastle could swoop for this Manchester United target](https://www.footballtransfertavern.com/newcastle-united-transfer-rumours/amadou-haidara-newcastle-transfer-latest-pif-man-utd/)**