Potential Newcastle director Jamie Reuben already eyeing potential first signing

According to the Daily Star, potential Newcastle United director Jamie Reuben, who is currently in a similar role at QPR, has already started making transfer plans for Newcastle and is targeting Eberechi Eze – the star of the show at his current team.

If and when the Newcastle takeover goes through, Jamie Reuben will need to vacate his position on the board at QPR due to his family’s involvement in the proposed £300m Toon takeover. The likelihood is that he will be appointed to a director role at St James’ Park.

The star are reporting that Eberechi Eze, who is QPR’s most prized asset having enjoyed a brilliant season in 2019/20, could be the first signing of the new era at Newcastle with Reuben reportedly keen on bringing him along for the trip north.

21-year-old Eze has said in the past that he is in no rush to make the move to the Premier League, but that doesn’t mean he won’t consider it if the right move comes along.

Potential Newcastle director Jamie Reuben
Potential Newcastle director and current QPR director Jamie Reuben

The reality is, Eze is just another name in an extraordinarily long list of players who have been linked with a move to Newcastle this summer.

Despite that, the Jamie Reuben link does mean that this one could have a slightly higher chance of coming true. It’s certainly one of the more realistic transfer links too – with former Ballon D’Or winners and World Cup winners having been linked as recently as yesterday.

If Eze does become a Newcastle United player, it’s a move the Geordie nation can be excited about. At 21, he has his whole career ahead of him and a potential ability ceiling right up there with the best of them.

This term, he has played mostly off the left but can play through the middle in a number 10 role as well as off the right. He is most comfortable in the more advanced roles right behind the strikers but does have the ability to play slightly deeper in a straight up central midfield role.

He’s strong on the ball, is an excellent dribbler and draws a lot of fouls – not unlike Allan Saint-Maximin and Miguel Almiron. He has a lot of pace but also the technical ability to go with it, making himself known as a top quality set piece specialist to go alongside his ability to pick out a cross.

As for weaknesses, he isn’t overly strong in the air which is to be expected given that he measures in at somewhere in the region of 5’8″ (1.73m). He also doesn’t excel in the defensive side of the game, which is likely why he tends to play more in the advanced midfield role where defensive ability isn’t important as opposed to the central midfield role where it is.

This term, he has notched 12 goals and 8 assists, leading the team in goals provided and taking second place behind striker Nahki Wells for goals scored. In terms of match rating, he averages 7.45 for QPR making him number one by that metric in the Hoops side by a country mile with second placed Ryan Manning averaging 7.09.

All-in-all, he’d be a very good signing for Newcastle if we were to pull it off and could play in any of the three roles right behind the striker in a 4-2-3-1. If he were to come in, I’d expect him to line up in the number 10 role with Saint-Maximin on the left and Almiron on the right – although all three can play in the other two roles, so some positional interchanging wouldn’t be a surprise.

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