Newcastle ‘say yes’ to ‘paying every last penny’ of Barcelona’s ‘requested’ fee to ‘close priority’ signing
Newcastle United are reportedly stepping up their interest in Brazil international Raphinha as they are willing to pay FC Barcelona’s ‘requested’ price.
The Magpies were impacted by their Financial Fair Play issues as the summer transfer window was infuriating for the Premier League side.
Eddie Howe‘s side managed to keep Anthony Gordon, Alexander Gordon and Bruno Guimaraes as the sales of Yankuba Minteh and Elliot Anderson balanced the books.
Their incomings were underwhelming as they paid fees to sign Lewis Hall, Odysseas Vlachodimos and William Osula, while Lloyd Kelly and John Ruddy joined the club on free transfers.
Newcastle wasted a lot of time targeting England international Marc Guehi, who ended up sticking with Premier League with Crystal Palace.
Oliver Glasner’s side wanted around £70m for Guehi but a deal could not be finalised as Newcastle did not meet this asking price.
Another of Newcastle’s priorities was to sign a new right-winger, but they missed out on Michael Olise and Anthony Elanga. A report has revealed ‘three reasons’ why Nottingham Forest turned down a ‘hugely increased’ offer on deadline day.
A new report from Football Insider claims Newcastle have hatched a ‘January priority signing’ plan as they are focusing on adding a new right-sided forward to their squad.
‘Football Insider revealed on Monday (2 September) that the Magpies will come back in for Nottingham Forest star Anthony Elanga after seeing a deadline-day bid rejected.
‘However, Elanga is not the only player on the shortlist at St James’ Park and it is believed they are keeping tabs on several other potential targets ahead of the January window.
‘Sources say club chiefs will keep tabs on the Forest star and other targets as they look to bolster their winger options.
Despite this, Barcelona may still cash in on Raphinha and a report in Spain claims Newcastle have ‘said yes’ to pay the 60 million euro fee ‘requested’ by the La Liga giants to ‘close’ the signing.
The report claims Newcastle ‘held advanced talks with Joan Laporta to reach an agreement’ in the summer, ‘but all their attempts were fruitless as the offers they presented were rejected almost immediately by the Barcelona president, who was not satisfied with less than 60 million euros’.
However, Howe’s side are now said to be ‘fully convinced that Raphinha is worth paying every last penny of the Barcelona are requesting’ and ‘they plan to start negotiations soon’.
