Gylfi Sigurdsson Just Became Harder To Land For Newcastle

It was a wild day of Premier League action Saturday. Manchester City demolished Crystal Palace, Swansea upset Everton and Sunderland earned a road win over Hull.

None of those games have much of an effect on Champions League play or the major storylines of the final days of the Premier League. Instead, these results could have major implications on Newcastle United’s transfer tactics.

The Chronicle reported Saturday that Rafa Benitez will target players with Premier League experience to build his squad for next season. One of the names that Newcastle has been heavily linked to that fits this description is Swansea City’s Gylfi Sigurdsson.

The Icelandic international will be in high demand this summer after tallying twelve assists in England’s top division, placing him tied for second in the league. Saturday morning, Swansea was sitting in the final relegation spot down to the Championship. After beating Everton and Hull’s loss to Sunderland, the Swans leapt ahead of the Tigers.

There are still two games to play, so Hull could still overtake Swansea before the end of the year, but if the Swans stay up, it is going to be a lot harder for Newcastle to pry the talented midfielder from the Welsh club.

I wrote a series last month on players that Newcastle could target from Premier League relegation candidates. Sigurdsson was top of that list. He fills a huge need for Newcastle, who have struggled to find a true number 10 this season to slot in behind Dwight Gayle or Aleksandar Mitrović. Sigurdsson would be an excellent attacking midfielder for the Magpies, setting up goals all over and exerting his will as a set piece specialist.

It would still take a good deal of money to land the Swansea talisman, but the chances greatly increase in Newcastle landing him if Swansea go down.

It is hard to say exactly how things will pan out here though. Hull plays fellow relegation candidate Crystal Palace next before wrapping up the season hosting Tottenham. Even with Hull’s impressive home record, it is hard to see them beating Spurs, especially coming off a loss to bottom of the table Sunderland.

Swansea has a much easier path to safety. They visit Sunderland next before hosting a reeling West Brom team who hasn’t won since mid March.

Nothing is guaranteed, but it is beginning to look like Sigurdsson might be in the Premier League next season not wearing a Newcastle kit.