The Athletic: Player’s excessive wage demands forces Newcastle to reluctantly look elsewhere

According to The Athletic, Newcastle have shown serious interest in Leicester’s Youri Tielemans but are now ‘pursuing alternatives’ due to midfielder’s huge wage demands. 

For Newcastle, the Belgian would make plenty of sense – his expiring contract means he could be available at a cut-price fee, he’s still only 25 and is Premier League proven; something Howe is very keen on.

Our head of recruitment, Steve Nickson, is also believed to be a big fan of the 25-year-old, while Graeme Jones is very familiar with him from his time working with the Belgian national team. 

However, while he could help solve some of our midfield issues, The Athletic report that we’re unwilling to offer him the contract he’s demanding as it would break our current wage structure. 

It remains to be seen who we’ll pursue instead – Ruben Neves, Moises Caicedo, Scott McTominay and Conor Gallagher have all been linked – but it makes sense to look elsewhere if his demands aren’t in keeping with the strict policy put in place by Dan Ashworth.