Newcastle launch €100m bid for Arsenal and Man Utd target
Robin Bairner
- 17 Dec 2021 05:24 CST
- 3 min read
Newcastle’s takeover by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund is set to open new doors to the club in the transfer market, and the St James’ Park club are poised to flex their muscles in January as they attempt to escape relegation.
Eddie Howe’s men sit joint bottom of the Premier League, boasting just 10 points through their opening 17 matches of the table.
A home win over Burnley recently has kept them in touch with the main pack of clubs and the expectation is that significant January investment will prevent them from experiencing an embarrassing drop into the Championship that would set their project back at least a year.
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Newcastle set for blockbuster move
Calciomercato reports that Dusan Vlahovic has emerged at their leading target, with Fiorentina having slapped a €100 million price tag on the forward, who is also being followed by the likes of Arsenal, Juventus, Manchester United and Tottenham.
Newcastle have supposedly already matched the Serie A side’s asking price for a striker who has 15 games in 17 league matches this season, and who is on the brink of matching Cristiano Ronaldo’s record for top-flight goals in a calendar year.
Tabling such an offer surely secures Fiorentina’s agreement to speak to the 21-year-old Serbia international forward, who has netted in each of his last five league matches.
With Newcastle capable of offering massive wages, their only concerns over securing Vlahovic’s signature, in this case, could only be their lowly league position and any doubts the striker has over the short-term competitiveness of the team, who will clearly not be playing European football next season unless they make an unlikely FA Cup run.
The timing of the report, meanwhile, is somewhat surprising given that Newcastle are on the brink of appointing Nick Hammond in a short-term role as transfer consultant.
Hammond previously oversaw transfer business at Celtic and Reading and will be a key figure for Newcastle in the weeks ahead, particularly for giant deals like Vlahovic has the potential to become.
