Newcastle United ‘tempting’ to want-away Chelsea star as Celtic boss opens up on transfer interest

Newcastle United took a big step forward in their first game back from the international break, making easy work of Fulham.

The trip to the Craven Cottage looked to be a tricky one, given the Cottagers’ strong start to the season, but an early red card for the hosts opened things up, and the Magpies made the most of the opportunity.

Amid a habit of drawing games this season, Eddie Howe’s men showed their killer edge by winning 4-1, racing to a three-goal lead by half time.

Newcastle will want to build on that result against Brentford next weekend, but in the meantime, we have rounded up all the latest news and transfer rumours.

Pulisic prediction

Newcastle could prove a tempting destination for Chelsea star Christian Pulisic, who has struggled to prove himself in the last 12 months.

That’s according to CBS Sports journalist Ben Jacobs, who told GiveMeSport: “I think if Newcastle made the right offer, that could be very tempting to Pulisic. But he’s one of the players that the World Cup is really going to influence now because he’s stuck at Chelsea until the World Cup.

“If he then doesn’t have the best World Cup, he might feel shunned down the pecking order even further at Chelsea and then think, ‘okay, it’s better I just leave’.

“But if he has a great World Cup, then I think Chelsea wouldn’t want to get rid of him in January and will be more bullish about the situation. He’s playing under a new manager in Graham Potter who can galvanise him too. So that whole culture in the dressing room, from Pulisic’s point of view, has changed.”

O’Riley latest

Celtic boss Ange Postecoglou has opened up on Matt O’Riley’s situation amid reported interest from Newcastle.

“Perspective is always a good thing,” said Postecoglou. “You could say Matt has had a meteoric rise, but this time last year he was playing with MK Dons in League One, so I think he understands the other side of football. He was literally training in the park with his dad and a personal trainer not all that long ago, so he’s seen that side of it.

“When things are going well you understand that the only reason things are going well is because you are doing certain things, you’re staying in the present, you’re working hard and making sure you are the best footballer you can be. You can’t worry too much about speculation or what the next step is — the time when footballers maybe fall into the trap is when everything’s gone well for them and there are no setbacks.

“Even the best players in the world have setbacks, and Matty has had that. It’s been fantastic for his development as a person as well as a footballer to understand that, as well as things are going now, they’ll only keep going well if he keeps doing what he’s doing,”