West Ham United are reportedly interested in the Newcastle United man.
West Ham United caused a bit of a stir earlier this month by reportedly bidding for Newcastle United’s Jamaal Lascelles.
According to Sky Sports, West Ham boss Manuel Pellegrini tried and failed with a £22 million offer for the Magpies captain.
There has been no reports of a follow-up bid by the Chilean manager as of yet, but he need not bother because it’s clearly not going to happen now.
Newcastle drew 2-2 away to Hull City in a friendly last night, in a game which saw Florian Lejeune, Lascelles’s centre-back partner, suffer a knee injury.
Magpies boss Rafael Benitez confirmed that the French defender’s problem needed to be assessed, but it isn’t looking good for now and if he is ruled out for a significant length of time then it is far more important that the Spanish manager keeps hold of Lascelles this summer.
Well, retaining someone of the 24-year-old’s vintage is clearly massively important anyway, but the North-East side, who found themselves battling relegation for most of last season, definitely can’t afford to lose him if their second-best defender is absent for a while.
The Northern Echo have previously claimed that the reported West Ham target is worth around £45 million to the St James’s Park outfit.
But if Lejeune is out for the long term then Lascelles is in fact priceless and a move to East London won’t be happening, if it was ever likely to begin with.
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