Newcastle United are stepping up their pursuit of Genoa and Serie A stopper Radu Dragusin with the Premier League giants reportedly ‘ready’ to pay £26 million for the highly-rated Romania international.
Florin Manea, Radu Dragusin’s outspoken agent, confirmed earlier in November that he was in London for talks with a number of interested parties, Newcastle United, Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur among them.
And that trip, it seems, has not been made in vain.
According to Romanian publication Digi Sport, Newcastle are the ‘first team to act’ on their interest in the one-time Juventus centre-back. The deep-pocketed Magpies have reportedly ‘submitted a written offer’ to Dragusin’s camp, and have expressed a willingness to meet Genoa’s £26 million asking price.
A fee which would see him take ownership of a record which has been Adrian Mutu’s for the last 20 years, becoming the most expensive Romanian footballer of all time.
Newcastle United step up Radu Dragusin chase
There is still a long way to go in this deal, however. Genoa, Digi Sport add, could yet spark a bidding war with Arsenal, Tottenham and West Ham also keen on the ponytailed powerhouse.
The Dan Ashworth factor could yet prove decisive though. Manea boasts a strong relationship with the Newcastle chief after working together when Ashworth was at West Brom.
Should Newcastle get a deal done, meanwhile, it will bring an end to their long-running pursuit of a right-sided centre-half. Dragusin could form a fearsome partnership alongside Sven Botman over the coming years, while allowing Newcastle to plan for life without the 30-something duo of Fabian Schar and Jamaal Lascelles.
“What can I say, what I have seen in the matches, (is that) he has physicality,” former Romania ace Florin Gardos tells Fanatik of Dragusin, who models his game on Liverpool ace Virgil van Dijk.
“What I liked about him from what I saw in the national team is that he is good in the aerial game. He always wins duels. (Dragusin) has great quality. He is 21-years-old, and he already has good experience. As well as growing up at Juventus through some great centre-backs, he has this very good potential.”
‘More difficult at Arsenal’
Gardos also believes that Dragusin would be better off at St James’ Park than at the Emirates due to the presence of a certain William Saliba.
“It’s hard for me to say if he would play at Arsenal. I don’t know. It’s not hard for me to believe that he could play there. (But) thinking about who is playing there, at this moment it would be difficult,” adds the one-time Southampton man.
“He could play at Newcastle, who don’t have centre-backs at that level at the moment. At Arsenal, it is more difficult because there is Saliba. And at the moment, (Saliba) is in the top five in the world.”
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