According to Gianluca Di Marzio’s website Grand Hotel Calciomercato, Sven Botman is considered to be a dream signing by the owners of Newcastle.
What’s the story?
Well, the Italian news outlet believe Newcastle’s Saudi Arabian owners are in love with the €8m (£7m) defender, and are dreaming of his arrival.
Grand Hotel Calciomercato believe Botman is ready to leave Lille to take the next step in his career, despite only arriving in 2020.
That bodes well for Newcastle, although there is still plenty of competition for the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia (PIF) and Amanda Staveley.
Grand Hotel Calciomercato add that Inter Milan, Juventus, AC Milan, Atalanta, Roma and Napoli are also interested in the Dutchman.
According to Duncan Castles, Newcastle have already opened talks.
The 21-year-old helped Lille beat Paris Saint-Germain to the Ligue 1 title last season, and has continued his strong displays this term with 15 appearances in all competitions.
Interestingly, ex-Southampton defender Jose Fonte, who has played with both Virgil van Dijk and Botman, believes the Newcastle target is better than the Liverpool colossus.
Newcastle should put Sven Botman interest on ice
Amazingly, Newcastle still haven’t hired a Director of Football to help Eddie Howe in the transfer market, with January just a few weeks away.
However, if we were in charge of DOF duties at St James’ Park, we’d probably look for a different profile to Botman this winter.
The Netherlands Under-21 international is a real gem, who has already attracted interest from Liverpool and Jürgen Klopp.
Therefore, we’re not sure if this is a deal worth doing in January, but more for the summer if Newcastle stay in the Premier League.
The Premier League is notoriously difficult to adapt to, even more so in a society plagued by COVID-19.
Aged just 21, it could take Botman a while to settle, and the Magpies can’t afford to waste time easing new signings in – they must have an instant impact.
Should he struggle and Newcastle go down, his reputation means he won’t be short of offers, and will probably jump ship immediately.
Of course, this is all speculative, but it feels like it would be a repeat of the Andros Townsend situation back in 2016.
Effectively, Newcastle would just be giving Botman a Premier League apprenticeship if he arrived now.
It would be much safer to pursue him once survival has been secured by experienced Premier League players.
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