Newcastle suffer blow for £60m ace, ‘an important offer’ has been made

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Newcastle have suffered a blow in the race for LOSC Lille defender Sven Botman, with the 21-year-old only interested in a move to AC Milan.

According to La Repubblica, the Dutch centre-back is keen on a move to Italy despite Newcastle showing plenty of interest in the Ligue 1 star.

As per the report, Newcastle made ‘a very important offer’ for Botman earlier this month. However, it was rejected by Lille because the fee was too low for what they value the defender at.

Sky Sports News report that the reigning Ligue 1 champions are eager to sell Botman for around £60m this month, with the likes of Renato Sanches and Zeki Celik also up for sale by Lille.

Indeed, whilst Newcastle could meet these financial demands, it is unlikely that Botman would be willing to join the club given their position in the Premier League table and the allure of Milan hanging over the saga.

Milan’s reputation will likely see Botman reject Newcastle for Italy

Whilst Newcastle languishes in the relegation zone, Milan sit second in the Serie A table and could push city rivals Inter for the title in the second half of the season.

And because of this, the Toon have next to no chance of beating Milan to the signing of Botman this year.

After all, whilst the Newcastle project will likely be an exciting one in a few years, there’s no denying that it will be hard to sell the idea to players such as Botman, who has never played in England and is still very much at the start of his career.