Premier League trio West Ham United, Crystal Palace and Brighton want to take Javier Manquillo away from Steve Bruce’s Newcastle.
As one member of Newcastle United’s Twitterati has pointed out, many a Magpie fanatic would have happily paid for Javi Manquillo’s taxi fare this time last year if someone wanted to take the right-back away from St James’ Park.
So it’s fair to say the journeyman Spaniard has come a long way since then.
Manquillo has been one of the shining lights in a season which has been, to be honest, passable at best for Newcastle.
Solid and reliable at the back, the 25-year-old has been preferred to swashbuckling DeAndre Yedlin and summer signing Emil Krafth of late and, for all those who claim that he offers nothing going forward, check out Manquillo’s pinpoint cross to set up Allan Saint-Maximin away at Sheffield United.
Nothing is ever simple at Newcastle however and it just so happens that the one-time Sunderland and Liverpool defender is producing the best performances of his Premier League career with just six months left on his contract.
According to The Telegraph, West Ham United, Crystal Palace and Brighton and Hove Albion are queuing up to sign a £4.5 million man for a cut-price fee in the January transfer window. And there is genuine concern on Tyneside about the future of a man who has silenced the doubters in style.
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