Newcastle fans have spent the past two summers in agony and frustration as they have seen some of their best players try to force moves away from the club.
Eddie Howe had hinted that he could not rely on Anthony Gordon for the final stretch of the season due to the Englishman’s mind being too preoccupied with his summer transfer. Bruno Guimaraes hired a notorious agent in order to force the Toon's hand to reluctantly sell him and who can forget the controversy surrounding Alexander Isak who used every means at his disposal to secure a move to Liverpool?
Fate now has it that a player expected imminently on Tyneside has employed similar tactics to push for a move away from his current club. That player is Lille forward Matías Fernández-Pardo, who has been linked with multiple moves away from the north-east of France for the past month.
Fernandez-Pardo forcing a move
The 21-year-old has not played for Lille since May.
He was in the squad when his side faced Everton in a friendly but manager Davide Ancelotti confirmed that the Belgian international had asked not to feature, with rumours suggesting he was pushing for a transfer. At the time, renowned French newspaper L’Equipe and Fabrizio Romano had revealed that Champions League clubs Atletico Madrid and RB Leipzig had tried to secure the services of the player for fees around the €35 million mark but were both rejected.
According to Lille based newspaper La Voix des Sports, Lille were planning on holding onto Fernandez-Pardo for at least another season- the Belgian has another three years left on his current contract- and would only let go of him for an outstanding transfer offer, assuming they managed to find a replacement.
Lille sporting director Sylvain Armand had said in an interview ahead of the game against Angers on August 23rd that ‘To be honest, talking about him leaving is not on the agenda right now’.
Rumours have suggested the player is refusing to train leading to Davide Ancelotti declaring that Matías ‘will no longer train with the group until the end of the transfer window’.
Sky Sports journalist Keith Downie confirmed on Sunday morning that the Magpies are negotiating with Lille for a price around £50 million and that there were other clubs interested in the player. Fabrizio Romano has since given the deal his famous 'Here We Go' tag so the player is expected to officially become a Newcastle player in the coming days.
The profile of Matías Fernández-Pardo
He first signed for Lille at the age of 9, leaving their academy in 2020 to join the youth team Belgian side KAA Gent. He quickly progressed through their ranks, making his debut in March of 2023, a month after turning 18.
In August of 2024, Lille re-signed him for a reported fee of €11.5 million, according to Transfermarkt. In the past season he scored eight goals and recorded six assists in all competitions, the highest goal & assist total of any Lille player. Despite having switched his international allegiance to Spain, he ended up accepting to be a part of Belgium’s World Cup squad, where he made three appearances coming off the bench.
As is the case with most of Newcastle’s summer business, the player is still from the finished product but he possesses a profile that the current squad lacks.
Able to play across the front-line, Fernández-Pardo is a fast and technical, ball-to-feet forward who likes to run with the ball at defenders and is good at 1 v 1 situations. Able to beat his opponent both on the outside and inside, he creates more chances than the 86% of his positional peers who play in similar leagues, according to FotMob. On top of that, he ranked in the top 10 for most shots taken per game in Ligue 1 last season, according to Footy Stats.
The current Newcastle squad lacks variety in its winger profiles. As iterated on this page previously, Anthony Elanga needs to work on his crossing and he is a player who prefers to receive the ball in space rather than trying to create it himself.
Similarities can be found between Harvey Barnes and Fernández-Pardo due to their stature and traits but ultimately the 28-year-old prefers to drift inside more rather than staying out-wide. His potential new teammate can do both whilst also having plenty of room to grow and develop his game.
Being good at both finishing and creating opportunities in front of goal is a remarkable ability, one that Matthias Jaissle may be able to harness and add to his already lethal attacking force.
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