Bayer Leverkusen will demand in excess of £85m for Newcastle United target Moussa Diaby, according to German outlet Bild.
This comes after fresh links with a January move for the Bundesliga star, who has bagged eight goals and four assists this season following strong interest from St James’ Park over the summer.
However, despite his undoubted quality, the size of the fee coupled with our FFP limitations (due to a £200m+ spend in 2022) makes you wonder if this could be beyond our reach this winter – just like the €100m-rated Mykhaylo Mudryk who appears to be Arsenal bound.
The club would have to break their transfer record for the second successive window following the arrival of Alexander Isak in the summer. The astronomical fee would be the most any Premier League club has ever spent in the winter window – and the fourth highest ever from a side in the division, €5m short of fellow Frenchman Paul Pogba. If this is Leverkusen’s asking price, it’s fair to say he won’t be signing at St James’ Park anytime soon.
Although the 23-year-old is an exciting prospect, the fee seems overtly high. In theory, Newcastle could expect to sign two players of real quality in James Maddison and Marcus Thuram for considerably less than £85m combined – which to me would be a better allocation of funds.
As exciting as it is to be linked with players of European pedigree, and knowing that the owners would be willing to spend to get their target, this alleged price tag seems unlikely to be met in the coming window.
