The £26m Serie A star who could make Newcastle United's defence a rock-solid force to be reckoned with
Newcastle have been linked with a Serie A star as they look for transfer targets in 2026 - but is this a deal that makes sense?
On the face of it, Newcastle United don’t need to do too much work on their defence. The Magpies may not be among the Premier League’s early pace-setters, but their back line has held up very nicely – they are conceding goals at a rate of fewer than one per game and only Arsenal have offered a lower quantity of xG to their opponents so far this season.
Still, a recent transfer rumours suggests that the club could be looking for reinforcements in 2026 regardless. With Valentino Livramento and Lewis Hall both sidelined by injuries and their central defensive core a little long in the tooth past new arrival Malick Thiaw and the injury-prone Sven Botman, there certainly seems to be room for a versatile defender to come in and bolster the ranks.
That defender could be Juventus’ Pierre Kalulu. But who is Kalulu, what would he offer Eddie Howe, and just how likely is it that a deal actually takes place in the near future?
Why Newcastle may be keen on signing Pierre Kalulu next year
The 25-year-old Kalulu has been with Juventus since signing for the Serie A side on an initial loan deal in the summer of 2024 from rivals AC Milan – Manchester City fans may remember him scoring an own goal for them during the Club World Cup. He’s been a regular presence in Juventus’ back line, but with the club struggling (at least by their standards) and churning through coaches, there seems to be a suspicion that many of their players are up for sale.
Kalulu is, helpfully given Newcastle’s needs, a versatile defender equally comfortable playing in central defence or on either side as a full-back, with recently-departed manager Igor Tudor using him as a right-sided defender for the first part of the season in Turin. If Newcastle are interested, then he would represent both a long-term replacement for Kieran Trippier and much-needed depth at centre-half.
The Frenchman – who made his first and so far only appearance for his national team during the Nationals League finals in June – is not a player who looks to beat opposing players on the run and isn’t suited to bombing on down the wing on the overlap, but he is a fine passer of the ball who’s accurate over long range, and excellent defending one-on-one.
Across the 2024/25 campaign, Kalulu, who was used right the way across Juventus’ back line last season, made 75% of his tackles against opposing dribblers, an exceptional mark, and seldom makes significant positional errors – he’s the type of defender that looks to deal with attacks by being in the right place at the right time rather than by throwing himself into tackles. Over the course of the last year, he gave up one penalty but aside from that was largely error-free.
As a centre-back, he’s press-resistant and technically impressive as well as helping to move possession along quickly upfield – a quality that Howe values highly – but as a full-back he tends to play in deeper areas and isn’t a major contributor to attacks, at least directly. That could be seen as a downside compared to Trippier and Livramento, but Howe hasn’t been asking either to press up the pitch with excessive aggression over the past 18 months or so. In short, he should suit Howe’s system. But is this a deal that’s likely to get done?
How likely are Newcastle to complete a transfer for Kalulu?
The primary source for the reports which suggest that Newcastle are keen on Kalulu is Turkish journalist Ekrem Konur, a transfer reporter who does not necessarily carry a strong reputation for accuracy in some corners of the internet – at least one team forum on Reddit, for instance, has banned the sharing of rumours from him due to perceived unreliability.
Still, the story has been shared by other sources such as Africa Foot, with the suggestion being that Newcastle are lining up a €30m (£26.4m) bid for the defender. The same source also suggests that Aston Villa and RB Leipzig may be interested as well.
The fee is likely a reasonable estimate of his value, especially given that Juventus have Kalulu tied down to a contract which runs until 2029. That puts them in a strong position, but this is still a club which lacks stability and which has some financial concerns – they reportedly lost €58m (£51m) after tax last season and may need to sell players to keep the books balanced going forward.
Kalulu is a regular starter but not necessarily viewed as an essential building block for the team going forward – reports from Italy have repeatedly suggested that the club are desperate to hold on to Kenan Yildiz and Khephren Thuram, both widely linked with other teams, and could sacrifice players like Kalulu to ensure that they are in a fiscal position to be able to keep their more prized assets.
In short, the sourcing for the story is perhaps imperfect but there is nothing in it that can be considered unreasonable – Kalulu matches Newcastle’s potential needs moving forward and the finances suggested are sensible.
It’s relatively unlikely that such a deal would be struck in January unless Juventus’ next manager takes a dim view of the player and relegates him to the bench, so this is likely a story which is proved true (or otherwise) next summer. It would certainly be a logical move for Howe and for Newcastle, however, and a very respectable deal to get done to ensure that Newcastle have the strength and depth to remain competitive at the top end of the Premier League table going forward.