Newcastle United now have a deal agreed in principle with Bayer Leverkusen for the signing of Mitchel Bakker – and are set to hold talks with the defender.
That’s according to The Telegraph, who claim that a rough deal is now in place with Leverkusen for Bakker to make the move.
Leverkusen are even identifying replacements for Bakker as they prepare for the Dutchman to join Newcastle.
The deal isn’t absolutely done yet though, and Newcastle now need to agree personal terms with Bakker in the coming days.
Newcastle have been keen to bring in another left back and have been linked with the likes of Lucas Digne and Robin Gosens.
Bakker now seems a much more realistic option for Newcastle and a deal looks to be down the line.
The Daily Mail reported just a few days ago that Newcastle had offered £14.5million to bring Bakker to St James’ Park.
That’s a healthy profit on the £8million Leverkusen paid to sign Bakker just last summer, and it looks like Leverkusen will take it.
Curiously though, Bakker did start for Leverkusen in their 5-1 win over Augsburg on Saturday, playing the full 90 minutes.
That doesn’t exactly smack of a team preparing to sell, but Saturday’s game may prove to be a goodbye for Bakker.
The 21-year-old decided to leave PSG last summer as he wanted a bigger role elsewhere, but that hasn’t really happened at Leverkusen.
Bakker would surely play regularly at Newcastle, helping retool Eddie Howe’s back four in the battle against relegation.
Tall for a full back at 6ft 1in, Bakker is athletically gifted and has been branded ‘very reliable’ by now-Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel.
This could be a very smart move by Newcastle, and they will be hoping negotiations with Bakker go well having been given the green light to talk to him.
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