The Telegraph’s Luke Edwards has released some interesting details on our pursuit of Sven Botman – the Lille centre-back who FINALLY looks set to sign at St James’ Park!
First off, Edwards reports that the deal we’ve struck with the Ligue 1 side is a few million short of what’s being reported elsewhere.
He reckons we’ll pay around £30m – not the ‘£36-£37m’ suggested by the likes of Sky Sports – as Lille ended up accepting something close to our initial offer after previously upping their price to £37m at the 11th hour last week, meaning smart negotiations may have saved us around £7m.
Now a fee has been agreed between the two clubs, it’s believed we’ve offered Botman a FIVE-year contract – and don’t expect personal terms to be a problem as they were ‘largely thrashed out in January.’
The Telegraph insist that the 22-year-old has ‘always’ been keen on a move to Newcastle – despite the Italian media repeatedly claiming his heart was set on AC Milan – suggesting our biggest issue had been agreeing a fee with Lille, not convincing the player himself to sign?!
Edwards even writes that Botman has spent the last few weeks merely waiting for Lille to accept one of our bids – not stalling on a move to St James’ Park as some have made out. I’m sure Milan would’ve been tempting had they matched our offer, but it seems they couldn’t compete financially and were therefore never a viable option for the 6ft 5′ defender.
Who knows. Either way, it looks like we finally have our man, with the highly-rated Dutchman due on Tyneside for his medical in the coming days.
