Newcastle at serious risk of losing £40m deal in fifth major blow of the summer

Sadly, over much of June and July, the story of our summer window so far has been Newcastle trying to land 'top targets' with very little success.

Eddie Howe said it himself in a telling interview with the club's official website this week, with previous targets Liam Delap, Bryan Mbeumo, Joao Pedro and Hugo Ekitike all joining 'big six' rivals instead.

Unfortunately, it appears that yet another player we've pushed to sign may not be arriving at St James' Park after all, as more concerning updates on James Trafford have emerged on Saturday morning.

Both The Mail's Craig Hope and The Telegraph's Luke Edwards report that Newcastle could be set to walk away from talks to land the Burnley stopper, with Toon chiefs unwilling to meet their £40m demands for the England prospect.

Edwards stats that Traffford 'thought he was going to definitely sign for Newcastle' this summer, while Hope reports on our 12-month pursuit that's always featured confidence from our end that it would eventually get done.

But, with Burnley's asking price deemed too high, Newcastle having priorities elsewhere - a striker and centre-back are badly needed - and Man City now entering talks to try and seal a deal, we're in serious danger of missing out on yet another leading target we've spent months, if not years, pursuing.

Hope reports that City's interest has been in the background all summer and while he insists that a deal is not dead yet from a Newcastle perspective, it's not looking good as we head into today's 3pm kick-off at Celtic.

🚨 I’m told Newcastle are prepared to move on from their interest in Burnley’s James Trafford with a deal still not agreed

🧤 It’s not dead yet, and a 12-month pursuit shows how much they admire the player, but I understand the club are also comfortable with their current GK… pic.twitter.com/xFG35ZaVWX

— Craig Hope (@CraigHope_DM) July 19, 2025