According to widespread reports this morning, Porto have now finally agreed a fee in the region of £6m to sign Chancel Mbemba – and it looks like Benitez has identified Fabian Schar or Federico Fernandez as his replacement.
Not only are leading Belgian outlet HLN claiming that a £6m fee was agreed over the weekend, The Chronicle’s Mark Douglas reckons the deal may have finally been struck between Porto and Newcastle – suggesting this may be why we’re now looking to activate Fabian Schar’s £3m release clause.
The Chronicle have confirmed our interest in Schar today, revealing that Rafa could turn to a loan deal for Swansea’s Federico Fernandez if a move for the Swiss centre-back somehow fails to materialise.
Back to Mbemba and here’s what HLN have had to say on the deal in the last few moments, claiming Anderlecht have now accepted defeat after Porto agreed a £6m fee (including a ‘considerable percentage’ of his resale) for the 23-year-old:
“Over the weekend, Porto and Newcastle agreed on the transfer of Chancel Memba.
“The Portuguese club took the Congolese defender away from Anderlecht. The Purple & White made an attempt to win Mbemba in the past few days and made a bid of 6 million plus a considerable percentage on the resale but it was in vain.
“Mbemba signs for 4 years at Porto.”
Ironically, he could end up playing against us on Saturday if this goes through in time, with us due to play the Portuguese giants over the weekend in our third pre-season friendly of the summer.
Would you be happy if we signed Schar or Fernandez in Mbemba’s place?
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