“Quality and experienced operator” – Stoke City eyeing move for experienced Premier League player: The verdict | OneFootball

This article is part of Football League World’s ‘The Verdict‘ series, which provides personal opinions from the FLW writers regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

Stoke City are eyeing a move for Newcastle United defender Federico Fernandez, it emerged yesterday.

That is according to Alan Nixon via Patreon, who reports that Newcastle United are looking to send the Argentinian centre-back out on loan to the second tier this summer.

Nixon states that Stoke City have taken an interest in the 33-year-old and are exploring just how much of his £60,000 per week wages they would have to pay.

Fernandez made just seven Premier League appearances last campaign and has a year remaining on his current deal in the North East.

With the above in mind, we asked three of our FLW writers for their verdict on whether or not Fernandez would be a good addition at the Bet 365 Stadium.

Simmey Hannifin-Donaldson

To be honest, this is a tough one to assess.

We’ve seen central defenders well beyond 33-years-old do well in recent times, for example, Gary Cahill and Phil Jagielka, but it’s just hard to gauge how much he has left at this stage of his career because of how little he played last season.

You’d think only playing seven times would give you a real hunger for game time, but if that is the case, you wonder why it has taken until this stage of the window for a potential loan to materialise.

Having racked up 32 caps for his country, Fernandez is a quality and experienced operator and providing he has the hunger to step down to this level, he would likely do well.

I guess things could all depend on if incoming Potters manager Alex Neil is keen on the Argentinian.

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Adam Jones

You just feel someone like Connor Taylor could really benefit from someone of Fernandez’s experience, one potentially hidden benefit behind this possible deal.

However, you do have to look at the fact they already have five loanees at their disposal and a maximum of five are allowed in a matchday squad, so this addition could create disharmony if a temporary player is forced out of the matchday squad.

A central defender could be useful though with Harry Souttar needing to be eased into action rather than thrown in at the deep end following such a serious setback for the Australia international.

And for a side that were leaky under former boss Michael O’Neill both during pre-season and the early stages of 2022/23, someone like Fernandez could help to strengthen their backline.

They should only be willing to pay a small percentage of his wages though.

Carla Devine

This would be a really solid bit of business for Stoke City. At 33-years-old, Fernandez is an experienced head to have in the side and he’s played plenty of top tier football in his career to bring that quality to his game.

Although Fernandez played plenty for Newcastle under Rafa Benitez and Steve Bruce, he hasn’t featured for the Magpies since December and has made just two appearances under Eddie Howe suggesting a move would be on the cards from that side.

Furthermore, the defender’s in the final year of his contract and it would be highly unlikely to see his contract at Newcastle extended in the summer meaning he will be eager to get minutes and prove himself for a next move.

With Harry Souttar set to be out for a while longer, this is definitely an area where the Potters need to strengthen and you can see Fernandez being a great option to come in where they need reinforcements.