Sky Sports have confirmed Newcastle’s interest in QPR’s star man Eberechi Eze, but it seems as though Premier League rivals Fulham are the new favourites to sign the talented 22-year-old.
They claim Scott Parker’s side are the club ‘most likely’ to meet his £20million valuation, with ourselves, West Ham, West Brom and Crystal Palace also credited with an interest by Sky Sports.
Crystal Palace are the only club to register an official bid so far, having a £12m offer rejected earlier this month.
Here’s a snippet from their latest piece on the England U-21 star, which confirms we are one of FIVE clubs keen:
“Fulham have joined a clutch of Premier League clubs in the race to sign Eberechi Eze from QPR.
QPR did not want to put Eze in an awkward position by playing him in Saturday’s friendly as Premier League interest in the forward intensifies. Fulham are thought to be most likely to meet QPR’s £20m valuation of the player as it stands.
The England U21 attacker has also attracted interest from West Ham, Newcastle and West Brom, and was the subject of a failed £12m bid from Crystal Palace earlier this month.“
£20m may eat considerably into Bruce’s summer budget, but he consistently looked one of the second tiers best players last season, bagging 14 goals and 8 assists in a poor Rangers side and could soon be worth double that if and when he shows what he can do at Premier League level.
QPR boss Mark Warbuton has also confirmed that he sat out of their pre-season win over Wimbledon on Saturday amid interest from several Premier League sides:
“He’s a QPR player but there are a few bits and pieces going on. What we have to do is just respect that and look after a guy who has come through the ranks here, and he’s one of ours.
“We look after all of our players. It was the right decision [not to play him] today and we’ll see what happens in the coming days.”
It will be such a shame to see another transfer target go to another Premier League rival. Even more painful is the fact that club legend Les Ferdinand emphasised to Newcastle Fans TV last month that he’d sell the 22-year-old to Steve Bruce and put in a good work about his former club should we match QPR’s asking price.
Again, a lack of ambition in the transfer market could cost us here. Instead of singing players like Eze with bags of potential, we are spending the summer shopping in the ‘bargain bucket’, watching our targets seem more likely to sign for newly promoted sides.
With Bruce wanting to move to 4-2-3-1 this season it is imperative we sign attacking midfielders this window – especially now we’ve also lost Lazaro – but if players such as are Eze out of our reach, we have to wonder what state the squad will be in come our first game of the season.
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This is the one player from the 2,000 or so targets we have been linked with this season that I would really like to see at SJP next season and SB needs to get his act together along with the dungeon master Charnley and get this deal done TOMORROW
Steve Alderson(Quote)