Newcastle United have finally completed the second part of their double raid of Belgian side Anderlecht by bringing defender
Chancel Mbemba to St James' Park on a
five-year deal after the FA recommended the defender for a work permit. The 20-year-old arrives for a reported
£8 million fee as the Magpies make their first defensive recruit of the summer, subject to being granted the permit,
with more potentially to follow as they look to shore up a backline that conceded an eye-watering 61 Premier League goals last season. He will be
unable to play against Borussia Mönchengladbach on Saturday, however. Mbemba follows Anderlecht teammate Aleksandar Mitrovic to Tyneside,
with the 20-year-old striker having signed for the Magpies a week-and-a-half ago, and he becomes Newcastle's third summer recruit
following the arrival of £14.5 million midfielder Georginio Wijnaldum from PSV Eindhoven . https://twitter.com/BenArmy_6/status/626738873230602240
Mbemba flew to Tyneside on Thursday July 23rd to undergo his medical, which he passed, before putting pen to paper on his five-year contract. However, the transfer was delayed as the
Magpies waited for the Football Association to grant a Governing Body Endorsement to the Government. before Mbemba could receive a work visa. The FA were unable to consider the application until a meeting on Thursday, when it was granted. Democratic Republic of Congo international Memba was also being
chased by Atletico Madrid ,
Borussia Monchengladbach and
Wolfsburg - but Newcastle won the race of his suitors.
The defender has been linked with the Magpies in the past , and the six-foot-tall full-back-cum-centre-back has already been capped 16 times by the Democratic Republic of Congo at the tender age of 20 and he looks set to become a real superstar.
There have been controversies over his age , however,
with his date of birth having been registered as both August 8th 1988, as well as August 8th 1994 . In fact, allegations arose back in 2013 that he did actually
have four separate birth dates registered with different organisations, and with FIFA that birth date makes him 20 . Versatile enough to be able to cover at centre-back, the defender would be able to fill in for a number of positions at St James Park, which made him an attractive option. Mbemba has made 56 league appearances since progressing into the first-team at Anderlecht back in 2012, scoring six times, and he has won both the Belgian Pro title and the Belgian Super Cup (twice).
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