Newcastle are looking at a number of options for midfield; one of several positions the club are looking to bolster this summer.
Borussia Mochengladbach’s Manu Kone is someone they liked the look of in January and remains a player ‘on the list.’ Khephren Thuram at Nice is also admired and the club have held talks with both. However, preliminary talks are quite normal at this stage and it doesn’t necessarily give an indication of whether the club will make formal moves.
Kone has a number of clubs keen, with Chelsea and Liverpool in the mix. Thuram has attracted more attention since last summer when Newcastle held informal talks, as we revealed last summer. His father and advisor – Lillian Thuram – is pushing a move to Liverpool, though, and thing are progressing, so Newcastle may have to act fast if they wish to sign the 22-year-old.
Sporting Lisbon’s Manuel Ugarte is another who has been looked at. I was told last month Chelsea were the front runners for his signature, but it looks like he’ll now join PSG.
Newcastle are very shrewd. They don’t give a lot away and sometimes players come in through the back door without so much as a whisper heard. Gaging who they are definitely gunning for and are prepared to bid for is problematic unless you have the status of being a reporter for a broadsheet national paper.
It seems Newcastle have a lot of transfer information on lockdown. Cast your mind back to Sven Botman. It was nor the player’s side or Newcastle who briefed his signing. Instead, details of the deal were revealed by reporters close to Milan, the club he rejected. But information is a commodity in this game, especially where the transfer window is concerned.
We do know that Kone and Thuram are well-liked because that’s been ratified by countless sources. The next step is learning of what extent that interest is.
