The door is ajar for Leeds United or Wolverhampton Wanderers to secure the signature of Jens Cajuste, with the Northern Echo reporting a £13 million price tag has put the midfielder out of Newcastle’s reach.
With just five weeks until the transfer window shuts, Steve Bruce has yet to bring in a single player to strengthen a squad that, in truth, performed far worse than its eventual 12th place finish would have you believe.
Aggressive, energetic, tenacious and technically gifted, Cajuste looks every inch the kind of box-to-box enforcer Newcastle have been looking for. A man in the mould of the late Cheick Tiote.
The Magpies are understood to have held talks with Danish club Midtjylland about a deal that would see the Sweden international, who featured briefly at Euro 2020, move to St James’ Park.
According to The Echo, however, the Tyneside giants have no plans to meet a prohibitive £13 million price tag as things stand.
Midtjylland rejected an eight-figure bid from Ligue 1 outfit Rennes recently and appear reluctant to soften their stance.
Leeds look to swoop for Jens Cajuste as Newcastle back out
Opportunity knocks, then, for a host of other Premier League clubs.
On Tuesday, Expressen reported Wolves, Leeds and Crystal Palace were all preparing bids for the Gothenburg-born 21-year-old.
It’s worth noting Cajuste was nowhere to be seen as Midtjylland travelled to Glasgow for a Champions League qualification clash with Celtic in midweek, left out as doubts continue to swirl about his future.
Now, £13 million isn’t an insignificant sum but it’s far less than Wolves would have to pay for the likes of Joao Palhinha or Samu Costa.
Leeds, meanwhile, appear to have been priced out of the race for Nahitan Nandez and Cajuste’s arrival would ease the burden of responsibility on perhaps the only truly irreplaceable member of Marcelo Bielsa’s XI – Kalvin Phillips.
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