2 Bundesliga Players Newcastle United Could Look To Sign Following The Success Of Mikel Merino

Two Players From Germany Who Newcastle Can Look To Sign After Mikel Merino’s Success

The Geordies know how to spot a decent player, and as soon as the fans saw Mikel Merino in pre-season, he became somewhat of a favourite.

The Spanish under-21 international was allowed to leave Borussia Dortmund, initially on-loan, and join Rafa Benitez at Newcastle and has gone on to impress greatly, scoring a vital winner last time out against Crystal Palace in the Premier League.

Having now signed on permanently at St James’s Park, Merino can be considered as a success. The Bundesliga is known for its talented pool of players and here are 2 Bundesliga players who Newcastle can target, now that they have found success with Merino’s signing:

Julian Brandt (Bayer Leverkusen)

The 20-year-old has been in great form this season, starting mostly on the left-hand side of the attack, scoring 2 goals in 4 starts on that side. Even more impressively though, his 1 goal and 2 assists in 3 substitute appearances mark him out as a great impact player and he could compliment Jacob Murphy well in that regard.

Christian Atsu has played well this season on the left but he is not the quality Benitez is looking for on the long-term. Rolando Aarons is in and out rather due to injury and both Murphy and Matt Ritchie are more comfortable on the other side. So currently, there is definitely room in the squad for such a prospect.

Philipp Max (Augsburg)

Newcastle have been desperate for a good attacking left-back for some time now and this lad looks perfect for the job.

Max has started 9 games in the league this season from this position, scoring one goal and creating another four already. He currently sits proudly at the top of the Bundesliga’s leaderboard for the players contributing the most crosses per game, with 3.1 as his average.

Not only would it be a pleasure to see such an attacking option from left-back, but those quality final balls produced would perfectly compliment those coming from Matt Ritchie on the right (4 assists in 9 games), meaning another big step forward for Rafa Benitez in his attempts to create a great all-round side.

Paul Dummett has been admirable at left-back and certainly has Benitez’s trust. However, he does not have the attacking prowess of someone like Max and in fact has been injured since the first day of the season anyway.