At 26.7 years, Newcastle United ranked 14th in the 2025-26 Premier League for average squad age.
The veteran presence in the ranks at St James’ Park mostly comes from players signed in the first windows following the club’s October 2021 takeover by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund.
More than four years on, this is now a squad in need of replenishment and Newcastle’s early incomings this summer suggest they know that.
The sales of Anthony Gordon to Barcelona and Sandro Tonali to Tottenham Hotspur for a combined £169million have already gone through, with Bruno Guimaraes also informing the club of his desire to leave and join Arsenal. Fans are understandably anxious to see some new faces come through the door to balance things up.
So far, two 20-year-olds in winger Bazoumana Toure and goalkeeper Ewan Jaouen have arrived from Hoffenheim and Reims, respectively.
The next names on the shopping list, as reported by The Athletic this week, are Sean Steur of Ajax and Freiburg’s Johan Manzambi, who has impressed for Switzerland at the ongoing World Cup.
Should those moves be completed, what will Steur, 18, and Manzambi, another 20-year-old, bring to Tyneside?
Manzambi was one of Newcastle’s primary targets for this window, having been monitored closely across two seasons with Freiburg which brought seven goals and five assists in 38 Bundesliga appearances, 30 of them starts. The numbers aside, there is plenty to like about his profile as a successor to Joelinton or an alternative to Joe Willock, should he also depart.
The biggest strength of Manzambi’s game is his dribbling. He is fleet-footed with a burst of speed that he can sustain over long stretches due to his balance and seamless switch between shorter steps and long strides with either foot.
When those two combine, you get moments like his early assist for Breel Embolo against Algeria in the World Cup’s round of 32, setting the Swiss on their way to a 2-0 win.
Similarly, below against Genk in last season’s Europa League, Manzambi is initially moving towards his own goal due to a bad first touch. He recovers to dribble beyond the first tackle before a swift stepover to get past a second opponent in a tight space.
Manzambi’s pace and trickery are complemented by his physicality, with the ability to bounce off defenders. Among 380 central and defensive midfielders and No 10s across Europe’s top five leagues in 2025-26 with a minimum of 900 minutes played, he ranked third for fouls won at 3.3 per 90 minutes.
His first touch can let him down at times as he looks to shift the ball forward immediately, and he can run into traffic, resulting in loose turnovers, rather than picking the right pass. Those are coachable negatives that are at the heart of the creative threat Manzambi’s dribbling offers.
Adding to the positives is Manzambi’s versatility. His exploits at the World Cup have come with him operating on the left wing or as an advanced midfielder playing just behind Embolo, resulting in a return of three goals and two assists from four appearances.
Following Gordon’s departure, Manzambi could be an option on the left, a role both Joelinton and Willock moonlighted in last season. But Newcastle ultimately view the Swiss as a No 8, which is where he’s played most often at club level, and his attributes and direct style suggest he will be a good fit for that position in head coach Eddie Howe’s system.
For Freiburg, he would often push up into the forward line, with a preference for the left flank, to form a 3-2-5 when Julian Schuster’s side moved into the attacking half. When they got to the penalty area, Manzambi would hang back near the edge of the box, looking for opportunities to shoot or initiate quick pass-and-move combinations.
A quick look at the profiles Manzambi is comparable to, using The Athletic’s playstyle wheels, throws up a box-crashing No 10 (Enzo Fernandez), a high-energy ball-carrier (Alex Scott) and a creative passer (Pascal Gross). That is a testament to the versatility he brings to the table.
Manzambi also possesses an excellent long throw. Seventy-four per cent of his throw-ins in the final third last season went into the penalty area, the third-highest ratio among midfielders to attempt 30 or more throws in Europe’s top five domestic leagues.
Defensively, Manzambi has room for refinement. Relying on his reach and pace means he can make rash decisions, resulting in two red cards during the 2025-26 Bundesliga. He has shown an eye for reading opposition passes, though, and that should only improve with time.
Newcastle have focused on bringing in players aged below 24 across the past five years but have rarely spent big on a teenager. That makes Steur’s case an interesting one.
The 18-year-old has limited experience, having only broken into Ajax’s first team halfway through last season. He ended 2025-26 with 25 senior appearances across all competitions. There is a feeling at Newcastle, despite this, that the Dutch youngster has the self-belief and maturity to be able to contribute right away.
Steur is technically skilled with a willingness to receive the ball under pressure and, like Manzambi, is keen to move play forward as much as possible. His preferred route is to punch passes into his attackers and drift into the final third to try to take attention away from his team-mates.
His off-the-ball movement and recognition of space are encouraging. Below against Olympiacos in the Champions League in January, Steur initially waits to see play develop on the right, constantly scanning around him.
When the gap opens, he reacts first to get there, receive the pass and find left-winger Mika Godts, who is in a one-v-one situation.
Steur is also a good dribbler, relying on subtle body feints and his 6ft (183cm) frame to outmanoeuvre opponents.
Here, in a late-season play-off game against Groningen, he quickly slips past a tackle and gets forward before buying himself time with another feint and picking the right pass.
Out of possession, he prefers to be more passive, waiting to pounce rather than pressing up to attackers, and also offers relentless hard running.
In our next clip, against Feyenoord, he is initially on the wrong side of an underlapping run but makes up the ground at pace to prevent a cross.
Steur played as both a holding midfielder and No 8 for Ajax, and Newcastle view him as an option for both positions, too.
Lewis Miley is considered to be Tonali’s successor as the No 6, with Guimaraes, Joelinton, Jacob Ramsey and potentially Manzambi likely to rotate in the twin No 8 roles.
That should give Steur, who doesn’t turn 19 until January, the time to develop his physicality — one of the areas that needs plenty of improvement — and hone his skills so he can thrive in the Premier League in either midfield position.
