According to the Northern Echo, Newcastle’s transfer plans have stepped up significantly over the past 24 hours, with Lille’s Sven Botman and Bayer Leverkusen’s Moussa Diaby targeted.
Scott Wilson reports that we have held talks over moves for the 22-year-old duo over the last few days and have become ‘increasingly confident’ we’ll be able to bring BOTH to St James’ Park.
Botman is believed to be keen on a move to the Premier League – he talked up our project in January – and it seems we are looking to hijack his proposed move to AC Milan as a result, feeling we can offer better terms than the newly crowned Serie A winners.
As for Diaby, the Echo write that it may take a club record bid to bring the Frenchman to Tyneside, reporting that the Bundesliga side value the winger at the £40m mark.
However, their sources in Germany suggest Leverkusen could be tempted to cash in to generate funds for their own transfer business this summer – which may explain why there’s optimism from our end on this deal also.
