Barcelona agree €80m deal with Newcastle for Anthony Gordon

The Spanish champions have also agreed personal terms with the 25-year-old. Stu Forster/Getty Images

Barcelona have reached an agreement to sign forward Anthony Gordon from Newcastle United.

The two sides have agreed a deal worth €80million (£69.3m; $93.2m) for the winger, with a sell-on clause also included.

This has now been accepted by Newcastle, with the England international set to make the switch to the Camp Nou.

Personal terms have also been agreed with the 25-year-old, who had also been subject to interest from German champions Bayern Munich.

Gordon is travelling to Barcelona on Thursday and is set to undergo a medical in the Catalan capital later in the day.

Barcelona head coach Hansi Flick and sporting director Deco are admirers of Gordon, who they see filling the role played by Marcus Rashford this season. Rashford, 28, spent the campaign on loan from Manchester United, registering 14 goals and 14 assists in 49 appearances.

Barcelona hold a €30m option — which expires on June 15 — to sign Rashford permanently.

The Catalan side have yet to decide whether to take up that option but believe a deal for Gordon, despite involving a higher fee, could end up having a similar financial impact to Rashford due to the former Everton man’s lower salary demands and their willingness to offer him a longer contract, due to his age, enabling them to amortise the cost of his transfer fee over a longer period.

Towards the end of the season, Newcastle head coach Eddie Howe said Gordon was being left out of his matchday squads because he was “looking at the future”.

The Athletic reported last month that Bayern and Chelsea were interested in Gordon, who signed an improved Newcastle contract in October 2024. Arsenal have also tracked the England international long-term but it remains to be seen how highly he figures on their list as they seek to bring in a left-sided forward this summer. The feeling from around Newcastle is Bayern were leading the race to sign Gordon, but the German club appeared unwilling to pay €80m and have been considering other options in that position.

Newcastle had also held negotiations with Liverpool in the summer of 2024 over a potential £75m move that would have seen centre-back Joe Gomez head in the other direction, though a transfer did not materialise. “It didn’t happen,” Gordon told reporters last year. “I had to get my head around that to begin with and then to get my head around it again was hard.” Liverpool did not reignite their interest this summer.

Gordon has made 46 appearances in all competitions this season, starting in 36 of those despite initially struggling with hip problems at the start of the campaign. He registered 17 goals, including 10 in 12 Champions League games, and five assists, rotating between his usual position on the wing and up front.

The Englishman was called up to Thomas Tuchel’s squad in March and made his 17th England appearance in a friendly against Japan. He was then named in Tuchel’s 26-man World Cup selection earlier this month.

He has made 152 appearances for Newcastle since joining the club from Everton in January 2023 for an initial fee of £40m.

Additional reporting: Seb Stafford-Bloor and George Caulkin

A deal that makes sense for Newcastle

Analysis by senior football writer George Caulkin

While Newcastle have no wish to lose their best players, this comes with a caveat. To do the (considerable) business they need to do this summer, they need to sell big and they need to sell smartly and there is a general feeling that now is the time for Gordon to go.

Speed is of the essence. A year ago, there was a power vacuum at St James’ Park and they drifted through a draining, corrosive close-season with no sporting director in place and a chief executive who was on medical leave. Their transfer business was late — the contentious departure of Alexander Isak to Liverpool automatically made them worse — and desperate.

Under the leadership of David Hopkinson, the new CEO, and Ross Wilson, the sporting director, there is a determination that those mistakes will not be repeated. They have been in negotiations with both Barcelona and Bayern Munich for weeks and there is a feeling that a deal for Gordon is now imminent. It shows Newcastle mean business, although their fans will understandably be more interested in who replaces him.

Barcelona would be getting a player of rare pace and quality. On his best days, Gordon has led Howe’s pressing style with targeted running and his numbers in the Champions League this season speak for themselves. In the Premier League, however, he — as well as the rest of his team-mates — have not been anything like as effective.

Two years ago, it took all of Howe’s man-management skills to bring Gordon around after he came close to leaving for Liverpool, the team he supported as a child. There is little desire from either side to go through that again.

What does this mean for Rashford and Man Utd?

Analysis by Manchester United correspondent Laurie Whitwell

A permanent move to Barcelona has been the outcome hoped for by Rashford and United during his season-long loan spell, but Gordon’s move, if completed, would complicate matters.

Barcelona have until June 15 to trigger the €30m option to buy in the contract agreed with United last summer, but it seems unlikely that will happen if Gordon is already on the books, so the prospect of another loan move comes into view.

United have maintained they will not renegotiate the terms already set out but finding a different exit for Rashford will be very hard, given his salary goes back up to more than £300,000 per week now Michael Carrick’s team have qualified for the Champions League. Would Barcelona’s proposal of another temporary move at least alleviate the pressure on United’s wage bill?

Rashford returning to United still seems remote, given his earnings and the finality of his previous departures. Carrick has worked with him before, of course, but it has felt like United have moved on, so too Rashford, who appeared refreshed at Camp Nou where he won La Liga.

The situation adds an interesting dimension to the forthcoming England camp, where Gordon will compete with Rashford for a place on Thomas Tuchel’s left wing.

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