Diego Laxalt has been linked with Premier League outfit Newcastle United, despite only joining Serie A powerhouses AC Milan in the summer.
With Luis Suarez, Edinson Cavani and Lucas Torreira shining for Uruguay at the World Cup, Diego Laxalt’s impressive performances at left-back rather went under the radar.
But that did not prevent AC Milan from snapping up the tenacious 25-year-old from Serie A rivals Genoa for a fee of around £16 million, as reported by Calciomercato.
Since then, however, Laxalt has struggled for regular starts at Milan with Gennaro Gattuso preferring the swashbuckling Swiss Ricardo Rodriguez on the left of his defence. As a result, a shock move to Newcastle United has been mooted in Italy.
Calciomercato believe that Newcastle have initiated talks with Laxalt’s agent, having held a long-standing interest in a player who spent time at Milan’s city neighbours Inter earlier in his career.
But would the South American be willing to swap the San Siro for St James’ Park? Possibly not.
Despite starting just four Serie A matches all season, and being omitted from the squad for Milan’s win against SPAL last time out, it is understood that Laxalt is happy at Milan and has a good relationship with Gattuso.
As a result, Laxalt is hoping to stay at Milan rather than move to Newcastle according to Calciomercato, though sporting director Leonardo and director of strategic development Paolo Maldini are set to make a decision about his future in the next few days.
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