As per the club’s official website, Premier League outfit Newcastle United sealed a move for defender Antonio Barreca on the final day of the January transfer window. The 23-year-old had been playing his football at French outfit Monaco and had done so since 2018, although struggles for regular first team football at the Stade Louis II this season called his future at the club into doubt as the winter window progressed.

And it was Rafa Benitez’s Magpies who officially got a deal done for the left back on loan until the end of the season, and with the North East giants having the option to buy the Italian outright come the summer, his addition could finally rid Newcastle of awful Javier Manquillo, valued at £4.5 million by Transfermarkt.

The Breakdown

Ultimately, the Magpies were crying out for reinforcements during the January window given they again look set for a battle against Premier League relegation, what with Benitez’s side sat 14th in the table and only five points clear of the bottom three.

And the full back department was one area in particular in which improvements were necessary, what with the injury to Paul Dummett at the start of the year leaving Manquillo and DeAndre Yedlin as Benitez’s only senior options down the flanks.

In fact, the Spaniard has often played a back three and utilised Matt Ritchie as a left wing-back in recent weeks to underline just how unconvinced he is by Manquillo’s ability, with his future at St James’ Park now even more uncertain following the arrival of 23-year-old Barreca.

The former Italian youth international may well have struggled for regular game time at lowly Monaco this season, appearing only seven times in Ligue 1, but that shouldn’t detract from the obvious qualities he is going to bring to this Newcastle side from left back.

While the likes of Dummett and Manquillo are reasonably solid defensively, neither have that dynamism to really push forward and aid in attack, yet that is exactly what Barreca seeks to do down the left-hand-side - the fact he has played as a wing back and indeed a winger is testament to his attacking pedigree.

And that does appear to have been missing greatly from Newcastle’s play in recent years given the options in that department simply don’t possess that attacking instinct - Barreca will go some way to providing them with that though.

And that spells bad news for Manquillo and his chances of earning first team football in the second half of the season - he is already behind Dummett in the pecking order, let alone now Barreca has made the move to St James’ Park.

And with the 24-year-old having struggled for game time in Dummett’s absence, alongside the arrival of another accomplished left back in Barreca, it doesn’t look like he has much of a future, certainly in the short-term but maybe in the long-term as well, at St James’ Park.

Newcastle fans… what do you think? Let us know!