According to the Express, Newcastle are now close to bringing Lille defender Sven Botman to the Premier League.
What’s the story?
Well, the Magpies have been pursuing the Dutchman for some time now, after failing to sign him in January.
Negotiations have continued between Newcastle and Lille, with a £30m fee said to have been agreed.
However, the deal was stalling due to disagreements over the structure of payments – the Magpies are keen to stretch this summer’s payments out over as long a period as possible, in order to stay within Financial Fair Play guidelines.
Now, there appears to have been a breakthrough. The Express believe Newcastle have agreed to pay a sum in the region of £28m – £29m upfront, with the remainder of the fee made up of achievable, realistic add-ons.
Lille are now resigned to losing the 22-year-old, who is also a target for Arsenal.
The Express add that AC Milan are still in the race, so a deal for Botman should not be considered a certainty as of yet.
Tottenham are also interested in bringing the Lille No.4 to N17, but their top target is Alessandro Bastoni of Inter.
Sven Botman will transform Newcastle
There’s a reason Newcastle have been so fixated on the signing of Botman, and it’s because he has the potential to become a transformative signing for them.
In some ways, he could be Newcastle’s answer to Vincent Kompany, who arrived at Manchester City to kickstart their period of dominance under Sheikh Mansour.
It is vital that Eddie Howe creates a sustainable spine to his Newcastle side, including a goalkeeper, centre-back, central midfielder and striker who can succeed on Tyneside for many years.
He already has his midfielder in Bruno Guimaraes, and by the sounds of it, Botman could soon be joining the Brazilian at St James’ Park as their second summer signing, after Matt Targett.
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