According to The Mail, Eddie Howe is keen to bring Leicester City’s Harvey Barnes to St James’ Park this summer.
In a piece that also reveals Inter Milan’s interest in Allan Saint-Maximin, they also name five domestic targets on Howe’s radar.
It’s believed we have a close eye on Barnes’ situation – aware of the fact he’d certainly leave should Leicester go down – while Arsenal’s Kieran Tierney, Southampton’s James Ward-Prowse and Man Utd’s Scott McTominay are also mentioned.
This comes after The Mail’s Craig Hope revealed that long-term target James Maddison currently ‘prefers’ a move to London this summer, meaning our attention may have turned to his Foxes teammate. Elsewhere, talkSPORT reported yesterday that West Ham’s Jarrod Bowen is also on our radar.
Barnes, 25, has undoubted talent and an impressive record this season in a poor Leicester side, scoring 10 in 27 Premier League appearances after bagging 11 goals and 14 assists in all competitions last term.
That said, he has always played down the left, meaning he would not fill the right-sided slot needed to provide competition for an in-form but ageing Miguel Almiron.
The same piece also reveals that a lot of work is going on behind the scenes to boost our recruitment at Academy level, with Southampton’s head of youth recruitment Dan Rice likely to be the latest to arrive in that department.
