---
title: "Newcastle: Chris Waugh reveals centre-back plan"
canonical: "https://www.footballtransfertavern.com/newcastle-chris-waugh-reveals-centre-back-plan/"
type: "post"
language: "en-GB"
author: "David Comerford"
section: "Newcastle United"
published: "2022-01-09T17:45:15Z"
modified: "2022-01-09T17:45:15Z"
---

# Newcastle: Chris Waugh reveals centre-back plan

**Newcastle United want to sign both Sven Botman and Diego Carlos during the January transfer window, according to [The Athletic](https://theathletic.com/3056363/2022/01/07/newcastle-cambridge-score/)‘s Chris Waugh.**

### The lowdown

Waugh’s colleague David Ornstein has written that Newcastle have as much as [£100m](https://theathletic.com/3054326/2022/01/07/ornsteins-transfer-mailbag-citys-haaland-move-arsenal-and-vlahovic-cantwell-can-go/?source=emp_shared_article) available to spend this month, and they’ve only used [£12m](https://www.skysports.com/transfer/news/12691/12509895/kieran-trippier-newcastle-complete-12m-signing-of-atletico-madrid-and-england-defender) of that so far to sign Kieran Trippier from Atletico Madrid.

A double swoop for Lille’s Botman and Sevilla’s Carlos could end up consuming the vast majority of that budget, though, with [The Daily Mail](https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-10380671/Newcastle-make-new-bids-Sven-Botman-Diego-Carlos-fork-70m.html)‘s Simon Jones claiming that the duo could cost up to £70m.

### The latest

In [The Athletic](https://theathletic.com/3056363/2022/01/07/newcastle-cambridge-score/)‘s matchday discussion on Saturday, a supporter asked Waugh if it was ‘likely to be one or the other’ of Botman or Carlos to be signed.

The journalist replied: “The plan seems to be both, Ben – which surprised me. I thought it would be one of the other, but they’d ideally like two signings.”

### The verdict

How surprising is it that Newcastle are willing to plough so much money into their defence? Not very.

As per [Understat](https://understat.com/league/EPL), they have the joint-worst record in the Premier League in terms of goals conceded and the outright worst in terms of expected goals against. They are currently on course to concede a whopping 84, which would be only five short of the [all-time record](https://www.premierleague.com/stats/records) for a 20-team season in the league’s 30-year history.

The hope would be that Botman, who has been eyed by [‘an array of top clubs’](https://theathletic.com/2589236/2021/05/16/sven-botman-exclusive-europes-rising-defensive-star-on-his-premier-league-dream-toppling-psg-and-a-body-like-van-dijk/), and Carlos, himself [a former target](https://www.fichajes.net/noticias/premier-league-llama-puerta-diego-carlos-20210518.html) of Liverpool and Manchester United, could turn a porous backline into a solid foundation. Waugh’s comments suggest that the Magpies mean business in trying to get at least one of them to Tyneside by the end of the month

**In other news, [Luke Edwards reveals Newcastle’s interest in this attacking talent](https://www.footballtransfertavern.com/newcastle-united-transfer-rumours/transfer-news-todd-cantwell-norwich-premier-league/)**