Newcastle United are pushing to sign Benfica striker Darwin Nunez – but the Portuguese club are hoping for interest from Atletico Madrid instead.
Portuguese newspaper O Jogo report that Newcastle are now ‘tightening their grip’ on Nunez as they desperately seek to sign a striker.
Newcastle are allegedly willing to pay €60million (£50million) to bring Nunez to Tyneside this month.
With Callum Wilson out injured, Newcastle absolutely need to splash the cash to bring a new striker to St James’ Park.
Nunez could be their man, but there’s a problem.
Benfica are allegedly waiting to see if they can get even more money for Nunez by selling to Atletico Madrid instead.
There is a belief in Portugal that Atletico attacker Joao Felix will end up leaving the club for Manchester City this month.
Atletico would then look to reinvest their cash in Nunez, potentially leaving Newcastle empty-handed.
Compared to Edinson Cavani by his own agent, Nunez has been on a path to stardom of late.
After 16 goals in his one season at Almeria in Spain, Nunez has excelled with Benfica. This season alone, Nunez has racked up 13 goals in 14 league games.
Strong, physical, quick and a complete nuisance, Nunez would bring something different to the Newcastle attack.
Whether they can actually convince Benfica to sell remains to be seen though.
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