Newcastle United and West Ham United are both reportedly keen on Lille’s Thiago Maia.
Newcastle United remain in the market for new signings, but their frugal – some may call it penny-pinching – ways could see them miss out on a target.
The Magpies have been restricted to bargains and loans this summer, as Martin Dubravka, Fabian Schar, Ki Sung-yueng and Yoshinori Muto have arrived for a combined outlay of less than £20million, whilst Kenedy has returned on loan.
Rafael Benitez will be pleased with the business he has done given his budget, but one of his targets could be slipping through the net before next week’s transfer deadline.
Le10 Sport in France claimed earlier this week that Newcastle were closing in on a loan deal for Lille midfielder Thiago Maia, which would have had a purchase option of €25million (£22.25million).
However, The Sun now claim that West Ham are swooping in with their own move for Maia, with a £20million fee paid immediately allegedly accepted, and a deal appears to be close.
The 21-year-old Brazilian, who impressed in Ligue 1 last season having signed from Santos, has shown himself as a combative holding midfield player, and could have been the ideal partner for Jonjo Shelvey in the Newcastle midfield.
Yet with Newcastle’s budget restrictions, they have seemingly been unable to cough up the £20million needed to sign Maia right now, and their attempts to take him on loan have seemingly allowed West Ham to swoop in.
That’s a huge blow for Benitez with just a week of the transfer window left, and he will be cursing the lack of finances given to him by Mike Ashley – and he will be hoping that Maia doesn’t come back to haunt him if West Ham do pull off a deal.
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