Alan Shearer urges Newcastle to rival Chelsea for £77m Josko Gvardiol

England undergo recovery session after beating Senegal at World Cup

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Newcastle have been urged to battle Chelsea in January to sign Croatia’s World Cup star Josko Gvardiol following his nation’s penalty shoot-out win over Japan in the last 16 of the tournament. The centre-back has been one of the stand-out performers in Qatar, which has prompted fresh links to the Premier League.

At one stage in the summer Gvardiol was thought to have agreed a deal to move to Stamford Bridge, though he would remain at RB Leipzig until the summer of 2023, but those reports were denied. Chelsea reportedly still retain an interest in signing the young defender despite replacing Thomas Tuchel with Graham Potter, though they were quoted a £77.7million fee in the summer.

His value may have since increased even further after a stellar World Cup campaign, and BBC pundit Alan Shearer questioned whether Newcastle should join the race to sign the Croatian. After Rio Ferdinand was gushing over Gvardiol’s performance in Qatar, Shearer pondered over whether his next move could be to Tyneside. “He would look good in a black and white shirt wouldn’t he?” the Newcastle legend claimed.

His tackle in the final group stage game to deny Belgium’s Romelu Lukaku from scoring may have kept Croatia in the tournament. “He’s been my favourite defender to watch in the tournament so far,” Ferdinand added. “He’s got great presence, happy for the battle, physical, and got a wand of a left foot. He’s got pace as well, and I think all those attributes are what you need as a modern-day defender.

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“The ball comes out to him and straight away he gets it on his left foot, can play the ball various distances with pinpoint accuracy. Straight through the lines, beats any kind of press, comfortable on either foot. As comfortable as he is with the ball at his feet passing he’s also comfortable running out with it.

“But also the aggressiveness, that nature again to come out, but not just finish it there. Burst out, look at the pace, willing to get forward. That youth, fearlessness, and quick enough feet for someone of his size. Everything about him, for me, has been so positive. Defending the front post, we don’t see enough of that. Most defenders get that wrong, and that [tackle on Lukaku] was the tackle of the tournament.”

The Telegraph claimed that Chelsea were closing in on a blockbuster £77.7m move for Gvardiol at the end of the summer after already spending £70m on Wesley Fofana, £60m on Marc Cucurella and £33m on Kalidou Koulibaly, but a deal for the Croat failed to get over the line.

Former Swansea defender Ashley Williams, on the BBC panel with Shearer and Ferdinand, believes that Gvardiol is one of the few defenders that have stood out in Qatar.

“What I like about him is that we’ve watched so many games, there’s been such a lack of good individual defending, but not with this guy,” the Welshman added. “We concentrate on centre backs so much now on what they can do with the ball, the range of passing, can they bring it out? He can do all of that.”

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