Another day, another new name linked. This time, it’s Sky Sports reporting that we’re keen on Lille centre-back Sven Botman.
The 21-year-old has shone during his first season in France, helping Lille finish Ligue 1 champions over the 2020/21 campaign.
As a result, Sky Sports report that a host of top flight clubs are keen on the 6ft 4′ Dutchman, with Newcastle, West Ham, Crystal Palace and Norwich named as interested parties.
They claim that the player is eager to test himself in the Premier League, suggesting he could ignore serious interest from Italian side Atlanta in search of a move to England, however any switch to St James’ Park seems highly unlikely for a host of reasons.
Firstly, it’s thought Lille will demand a fee in the region of £27m for the former Ajax man. He might fit in with Mike Ashley’s buying policy in terms of age and potential, but if recent reports are to be believed, that figure is double Bruce’s entire budget.
Not only that, it seems we’d have to fend off interest from several top flight clubs, not to mention the fact he seems unlikely to swap Champions League football with Lille for a potential season of struggle under Steve Bruce.
We may need a young, left-sided centre-back and have often shopped in France, but this feels like a non starter – especially when we appear to be favourites to land Axel Tuanzebe on loan from Man Utd.
