Newcastle United are willing to pay £34 million to bring Ajax midfielder Edson Alvarez to the Premier League in the final few hours of the transfer window, Dutch football reporter Mike Verweij tells De Telegraaf’s podcast.
Ajax are no strangers to losing key figures in the off-season. But the summer of 2022 has taken that to a whole new level.
Erik Ten Hag is set to be reunited with the magisterial Antony at Manchester United, after already raiding his old employers for Lisandro Martinez. Sebastien Haller, Ryan Gravenberch, Perr Schuurs, Nicolas Tagliafico, Noussair Mazraoui, and Andre Onana have also bid farewell to life at the Amsterdam Arena.
And, while time is not exactly on their side, Newcastle are refusing to accept defeat over Mexican midfielder Alvarez with the window entering it’s final throes.
Newcastle United want Ajax’s Edson Alvarez
“A very special story. Newcastle United would prepare an offer of 40 million euros,” explains Verweij. “If you see the amounts for Antony and Martinez, it’s not surprising that a big club offers such an amount.”
Verweij, however, believes that the chances of Alvarez joining Newcastle currently look rather slim. The one-time Celtic target, he suggests, would be one sale too many.
“Ajax has indicated to him at an early stage that he is not negotiable,” Verweij adds. “That may be different tomorrow, but Alvarez has resigned himself to it.
“He first wants to play the World Cup, and then look further. It may be different if higher amounts are offered tomorrow. But, in principle, he accepts that he is playing at Ajax for the time being.”
According to Mexican publication TUDN, Newcastle failed with an opening bid of around £25 million last week. 24-year-old Alvarez, a deep-lying 6ft 2ins midfielder who can also play at centre-half, would add physicality and versatility to Eddie Howe’s squad, while potentially freeing up Bruno Guimaraes to do his best work in the final third.
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