Newcastle beat Premier League rivals to make Matt Targett first signing of the summer

It is understood that the deal to take Targett (pictured) from Villa Park totals around $15 million and represents the first major piece of incoming business done by the club’s new sporting director Dan Ashworth. (AFP)
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Updated 08 June 2022
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Newcastle beat Premier League rivals to make Matt Targett first signing of the summer

  • Arab News has learned that the player is on Tyneside to complete the formalities of a permanent move from Aston Villa

NEWCASTLE: Matt Targett is set to become Newcastle United’s first signing of the summer.

Arab News has learned that the player is on Tyneside to complete the formalities of a permanent move from Aston Villa, including medical checks.

It is understood that the deal to take Targett from Villa Park totals around $15 million and represents the first major piece of incoming business done by the club’s new sporting director Dan Ashworth.

The 26-year-old left-back played 16 games for Eddie Howe last season, after signing on deadline day of the January transfer window.

Howe and United are understood to have explored the possibility of signing other, more progressive left-backs, including Brazilian international Renan Lodi, but were put off by the exorbitant fees quoted.

Targett himself is understood to have taken some convincing, having initially been in two minds about a permanent move to the northeast of England.

Newly promoted Fulham, where he spent six months on loan in 2018, also made moves to sign the Eastleigh-born former Southampton man this summer.

However, talks with Newcastle are believed to have developed quite quickly in the last seven days, with Premier League rivals Villa willing sellers, after signing France international Lucas Digne in the winter window.

Attention will now turn to other incomings, with United locked in talks to sign Reims’ striker Hugo Ekitike.

The framework of the deal is yet to be fully ironed out, with a low down payment likely to help the Magpies skirt around Financial Fair Play Regulations.

The deal could well total $37 million with add-ons included, although any payments included in this will be spread out over various windows and seasons, much like the brokered arrangements that brought Chris Wood and Bruno Guimaraes to the club.

Netherlands under-21 international Sven Botman is a player United are also keen to sign, with a stalled move to AC Milan reopening the door to a move for a player Newcastle had worked so hard to sign in January.

Botman had been expected to pen a long-term deal at the San Siro, with Paolo Maldini targeting the player to shore up the Rossoneri’s backline ahead of a Champions League campaign next season.

Botman is understood to have agreed terms with Milan, despite Newcastle’s continued interest. However, with no fee agreed with Lille, United are attempting to muscle in on any deal.


Kane scores as Bayern deliver comeback romp over Leipzig

Updated 17 January 2026
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Kane scores as Bayern deliver comeback romp over Leipzig

  • The victory restores Bayern’s 11-point lead atop the ladder over second-placed Borussia Dortmund
  • Leipzig took a first-half lead through Romulo, but Bayern kicked into gear after the break

LEIPZIG, Germany: Harry Kane scored his 21st goal of the Bundesliga season as Bayern Munich came from behind to win 5-1 at RB Leipzig on Saturday.
The victory restores Bayern’s 11-point lead atop the ladder over second-placed Borussia Dortmund, while continuing their record-breaking campaign.
Unbeaten Bayern have dropped just four points on their way to a record-equalling tally of 50 after 18 games. Bayern’s total of 71 goals scored is also a record at this stage of a German league season.
Leipzig took a first-half lead through Romulo, but Bayern kicked into gear after the break, Serge Gnabry, Kane, Jonathan Tah, Aleksandar Pavlovic and Michael Olize all scoring.
Bayern coach Vincent Kompany said Leipzig were “twice as good as we were” in the opening half, adding “but in the second-half — my god, the boys delivered.
“We weren’t afraid and we really went for it.”
Leipzig goalscorer Romulo said “we played 75 minutes really on top, then I don’t know what happened, we turned off our minds. We have to learn something out of that.”
Leipzig were strong early and broke through after 20 minutes when Romulo snuck past Bayern’s Tah to poke in an Antonio Nusa pass from close range.
The hosts were undone in the simplest fashion just after half-time. Dayot Upamecano picked Christoph Baumgartner’s pocket and fed Gnabry, who guided the ball into the bottom corner.
Bayern took the lead after 67 minutes, once again thanks to a Leipzig mistake.
Olize’s floated cross looked harmless until Ridle Baku lost his footing, allowing an unmarked Kane time and space to blast home.
With Leipzig’s resistance broken, Tah, Pavlovic and Olize all scored in the final 10 minutes, while Jamal Musiala returned late off the bench after a six-month injury absence.

- Can rescues Dortmund -
Earlier, an Emre Can penalty in the fifth minute of stoppage time saved Borussia Dortmund’s blushes in a 3-2 home win against lowly St. Pauli.
In the dying moments, VAR found a foul on Germany forward Maximilian Beier, bringing Dortmund captain Can to the spot.
“What a rollercoaster ride,” Can told Sky Germany.
“We need to do much better to settle things down and to convert our chances,” he added.
The hosts overcame a poor first half when Julian Brandt tapped in from close range just before the break. Having created the opener, Karim Adeyemi gave Dortmund a two-goal buffer in the 54th minute, converting a Fabio Silva assist.
Rock-bottom St. Pauli had won just once since September but fought back into the game when James Sands and Ricky-Jade Jones scored inside 10 minutes midway through the second half to stun the hosts.
Deep into stoppage time, Jones caught Beier on the edge of the penalty area, allowing Can to convert nervelessly from the spot.
Elsewhere, Hoffenheim’s Wouter Burger scored the only goal in a 1-0 home win over flailing Bayer Leverkusen to climb past Leipzig into third in the table.
Burger swung in an excellent free-kick after nine minutes to give the hosts the three points.
“That was an important one,” Burger said of his free-kick. “I was practicing them a bit this morning.”
Relegation candidates last season, Hoffenheim are on track to qualify for Europe’s top competition for just the second time in their history, having last done so under now-Germany coach Julian Nagelsmann in 2017/18.
Leverkusen have now lost four of their past six, falling three points behind the Champions League placings.
Cologne beat Mainz 2-1 at home, Wolfsburg played out a 1-1 home draw with Heidenheim and hosts Hamburg were held to a scoreless draw by Borussia Moenchengladbach.