The Telegraph’s Luke Edwards has issued an update on the ongoing Kalvin Phillips saga and commented on increasing talk of a January move for Atalanta’s Ederson.
Speaking on the BBC’s Transfer Gossip Daily podcast, the North-East reporter believes that it’s currently a game of cat and mouse between Newcastle and Man City, although there’s an ‘expectation internally’ that their loan fee demands will drop over the final 10 days of the window.
However, he expects at transfer scramble to follow if and when their £6-£7m asking price drops to £2-3m (without an obligation to buy), with the five or six clubs keen on the midfielder expected to make late offers. Barcelona and Atletico Madrid have been linked, alongside West Ham, Crystal Palace and Everton, but Edwards wonders if the La Liga duo have been mentioned publicly to push Newcastle into meeting Man City’s current demands out of fear we’ll miss out.
As for Ederson, Edwards confirms that he is a player we have been watching, but has been told the £50m-rated Brazilian is not a player we’re planning (or able) to pursue this month. Here’s what he had to say:
“I think the expectation internally has always been that the price would drop over the last 10 days of the transfer window.
“The problem is, if that price drops – and I think it will as City haven’t had a firm nibble at the £6-£7m loan fee – they are going to lower that price and suddenly it’s going to be a scramble.
“I think there probably will be six clubs in for him (if price drops) but once it becomes clear he’s available for £2-£3m and you don’t have to sign him in the summer, he’s precisely the sort of player people are looking for.
“Newcastle have been looking abroad as well. They’ve been linked with Ederson (Atalanta). I’m told that he has been scouted, but he’s not a player they want this month.
“It’s all smoke and mirror. Newcastle had said they were no longer interested in Phillips (because of loan fee and obligation to buy), but even as I was writing it I was thinking ‘is this just part of the game?'”
