An update has emerged on Newcastle United defender Javier Manquillo and his future at the club ahead of the January transfer window...

What's the talk?

According to Spanish outlet Estadio Deportivo, LaLiga side Cadiz CF are showing an interest in the right-back and he is their number one target in that position.

The report claims that an injury to their first-choice full-back, Joseba Zaldua, has forced them to explore options in the transfer market and Manquillo is the player they would like to bring in.

It is stated that the Spaniard is open to leaving St. James' Park in order to get more game time on the pitch but Cadiz are likely to pursue a loan rather than a permanent deal.

Ditch him

Magpies sporting director Dan Ashworth must ruthlessly ditch the right-back in the upcoming January window as he is, quite simply, not good enough for a team with hopes of European qualification this season.

The £35k-per-week outcast has not played a single minute of Premier League football in 2022/23, despite being fit and available for at least six games, and this suggests that Eddie Howe does not trust him to play regular minutes ahead of other players in the squad.

He played 19 times in the top flight in the 2021/22 campaign and averaged an unimpressive SofaScore rating of 6.66, starting 15 of those matches. That season, 20 other players in the squad averaged a higher rating than the full-back and this shows that he was one of the worst-performing players in the team, based on the general standard of his displays.

After a defeat to Tottenham Hotspur last season, Sky Sports pundit Jamie Carragher was scathing in his assessment of Manquillo - along with Jamaal Lascelles, Ciaran Clark, and Matt Ritchie - as he said:

“This back four is a Championship back four. These players were all playing in the Championship in 2017 for Newcastle.

“They are not good enough for this level. Matt Ritchie is playing left-back when he was bought as a right-winger in the Championship.

“They are not organised, they are all over the place. They’ve got really poor defenders and that’s a huge problem. They are going to need to buy three or four defenders in January to stay up.”

He said that the Spaniard was not good enough for the Premier League and the aforementioned statistics, along with Howe's reluctance to play him this term, back that up.

Manquillo is not a valuable asset on the pitch and Ashworth must now ditch him by either loaning him out to Cadiz or selling him permanently in January.