Newcastle on the verge of signing Anthony Gordon from Everton

Keith Downie of Sky Sports is reporting that Anthony Gordon's move to Newcastle United is in the advanced stages, with Gordon scheduled for a medical this weekend. Fabrizio Romano is also confirming and echoing the information on his personal Twitter account, you can consider the transfer unofficially official.

It’s worth noting that Gordon is cup-tied after appearing for Everton in their 4-1 defeat to Bournemouth earlier in the Carabao Cup. That would point to an appearance at St James on Feb. 4 vs West Ham at the earliest.

The reported fee is £40M, with an additional £5M in potential add-ons.

This news closes the pursuit of winger Anthony Gordon by the Magpies after reports emerged earlier this week talking about an initial bid having gotten submitted lover last weekend. In addition, the negotiations progressed to the point where Amanda Staveley was directly involved in communications with Toffees owner Farhad Moshiri, according to Goodison News.

Those following this saga are probably aware that the 21-year-old Gordon had not been present at Goodison Park for training in the last three days, only arriving at the facilities today, Friday, for the first time since he launched his self-imposed lockout.

While the reasoning for his absence was apparently excused on Tuesday, Everton media were infuriated when Fabrizio Romano tweeted that the player—who joined their local academy at age 11 after getting kicked out of Liverpool’s youth ranks—was continuing his absence to force a transfer this January.

Pundits and fans were quick to criticize the youngster as unprofessional, but after his own fans chased his car and berated him... who among them can really blame the youngster?

Gordon’s presence at Everton’s training ground this morning surprised Sky Sports reporter Vinny O’Connor’s while reporting on his truancy. There were still multiple conflicting reports on the price this morning, but most seemed to indicate that Gordon’s 2022 summer valuation above £60M had been reduced to the £40-45M range. Those latter figures have now been pretty much confirmed, according to the latest leaked information.

Everton’s manager search now focuses on Sean Dyche, after their other primary candidate Marcelo Bielsa’s unorthodox plans didn’t fit with Everton’s current relegation battle—the Argentine coach wanted to take over the Toffees’ post from next summer on.

This may have given a boost to Eddie Howe, as Gordon would have been a pivotal piece in the type of high-octane offense that Bielsa often choose to use.

In the long quest to find Kieran Trippier some respite at right fullback, the newest reported target for Dan Ashworth is Dutch international Denzel Dumfries.

Dumfries is another Serie A target who is continually linked to top clubs across Europe every transfer window. However, with Tottenham Hotspur close to finalizing a transfer for Sporting’s Pedro Porro to occupy the same right slot, maybe there is some validity to these new claims found on hitc.

Dumfries is only 26 but has enjoyed Champions League football already. In no way would he nor his agent entertain this transfer as a backup, by the look of it, and that’s most probably what he’d be destined to in Tyneside with Trippier going nowhere.

Would this free up Trippier to split time in the midfield and possibly displace Sean Longstaff while entertaining an entirely new role among Newcastle’s starters?

No matter what, a right fullback indeed has to be the next incoming transfer in Dan Ashworth's checklist... am I right? Five days to go. Tick, tock, tick, tock...