Newcastle United are closing in on their fifth signing of the summer in the shape of Malick Thiaw.
The Tyneside club have been in the market for a new centre-back and they are inching closer to getting a deal over the line for the 22-year-old AC Milan star.
As revealed by HITC on Monday, Newcastle are close to finalising a £35million deal for Malick Thiaw after talks progressed over the weekend.
Both Newcastle and West Ham opened talks with AC Milan over potential deals for Thiaw and Fikayo Tomori this summer.
It is understood that Thiaw has now reached a broad agreement on personal terms to move to St James’ Park.
If a deal is finalised, Thiaw will become the fifth signing of the summer for Eddie Howe’s side after Lewis Hall, Odysseas Vlachodimos, Lloyd Kelly and John Ruddy.
Malick Thiaw compared to World Cup winner
Thiaw started his career at Schalke before completing a move to Milan in 2022.
After starting as an option off the bench at the San Siro, Thiaw worked his way into the first-team plans at Milan and is now a regular starter alongside Tomori.
When he joined the Italian giants in 2022, AC Milan published six things to know about their latest signing, which included Thiaw’s idol and comparisons to two other defender.
The report read “Malick eventually established himself as a defender, but his idol is a (former) great midfielder: Yaya Toure.
It adds, “Thiaw has also been compared to two colossal defenders: Sergio Ramos and Joel Matip, who had a very long career at Schalke before joining Liverpool in 2016. Thiaw also shares his birthday with the Reds defender.”
Newcastle United fans will be delighted if their new arrival follows in the footsteps of Ramos and Matip – they played crucial parts in the success of Real Madrid and Liverpool over the past decade and Ramos also lifted the World Cup with Spain.
Newcastle are now in pursuit of silverware of their own and will hope that Thiaw is a part of their success.
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