Newcastle Transfer Round-Up: Every Player Linked From July 13th-19th

14. Douglas (Dynamo Moscow)

Newcastle United have made an enquiry about Dynamo Moscow€™s Douglas, the centre-back who was all set to join the club in 2013 €“ only for then director of football Joe Kinnear to inexplicably pull the plug on the deal. The Daily Mail claim the Magpies are keen to finally bring the 27-year-old to the Premier League and reunite him with his former boss Steve McClaren, with who he won the Eredivisie title at FC Twente. Back in 2013, the 6ft 4in Brazilian had been scouted by Newcastle€™s Graham Carr for months and the then-Twente defender had been chosen as the man who could help resolve Newcastle€™s defensive problems. However, Kinnear claimed he had identified €œother defensive targets€ because he had €œnever heard of Douglas€ and scrapped the transfer with the Brazilian ready to fly across to Tyneside in June 2013. Yet no permanent transfers arrived at all during Kinnear€™s reign, with only Loic Remy€™s season-long loan deal from Queens Park Rangers to show from that window. In fact, one of the main reasons cited behind why Derek Llambis quit his role as managing director at NUFC was down to Kinnear€™s actions over the Douglas deal €“ and an incensed Carr almost followed him. Having started his career at Joinville in his native Brazil, Douglas first moved to Europe with Twente in 2007. Over the next seven seasons he made 162 Eredivisie appearances for the Dutch side €“ including being a regular under McClaren, with who he won the title during the 2009-10 campaign €“ scoring an impressive 15 goals. Since moving to Russia with Dynamo in 2013, however, he has made 43 league appearances and netted on three occasions. Although born in Brazil, Douglas has admitted he longs to play for Holland €“ and, although never capped, he was an unused substitute back in October 2012 for the Dutch national side.