According to The Athletic, Brazilian talent Rogerio is Newcastle United’s top left-back target this summer – despite strong links with several other options.
This comes via Chris Waugh’s appearance on Tifo’s ‘Sensible Transfers‘ podcast, which sees him state that the 22-year-old Sassuolo star is the one we want most.
That said, he’s highlighted in his latest transfer piece that Rogerio’s asking price of £10m plus has seen us take a step back, and mentions on the podcast that we’ve been looking at the likes of Giannoulis, Willems and Rose instead.
Here’s what he had to say:
“Rogerio of Sassuolo I think would be the one, of them all, that they’d most want.
“But in terms of finances it may be difficult to do that.”
It says a lot about our limited summer budget that a £10m move for a 22-year-old left-back impressing in Serie A is deemed too much and would impact our ability to sign a proven striker, so I fully expect us to pursue a deal for Greek international Dimitris Giannoluis instead – especially when The Athletic believe PAOK would cash in if a £5m bid arrived.
Jetro Willems and Danny Rose are also mentioned as options, but Waugh notes that the former is yet to make a full recovery from a nasty knee injury, while the latter is believed to be lower down NUFC’s wish list due to his high wage demands.
Brighton’s Bernardo is someone we’ve looked at, according to Sky Sports, with him likely to leave the Seagulls this summer after struggling for minutes since Chris Hughton left, while they’ve also linked us with Norwich’s Jamal Lewis today – not that he seems a likely signing at £20m.
Elsewhere, The Chronicle’s Lee Ryder revealed today that we also showed interest in Man City Angelino, but he’s set to sign for RB Leipzig after we were putt off by their £25m asking price.
With Paul Dummett currently our only ‘natural’ left-back and the new season set to kick off a week on Saturday, it’s not just a striker that Steve Bruce needs to sign!
Follow us on Twitter (@NUFCBlogcouk) / Follow us on Facebook HERE
Apparently we are hoping to sign Wilson and Fraser soon. Who’s next – ‘Stupid Boy’ Pike and Mr. Mainwaring as our captain?
taken4mugs(Quote)
If Chris Waugh says we are going to sign a Brazilian, you can almost hear him in the background turning round to one of the other journos in the office, asking “how, George! how many’s a brazilian again?”
JFA127(Quote)
I like this player and would love to see him at The Toon. But I simply think we have to get Fraser and Wilson sorted first. As in get them in or cross them off the list and then we’ll know where we stand regarding money. Seems Marega has gone off the radar as well.
Jeff King(Quote)