Newcastle United want Porto winger Pepe and are expected to firm up their interest in the Brazilian in the coming days.
The Magpies have already secured Nick Pope and Matt Targett whilst Lille defender Sven Botman looks set to arrive.
One of the next priorities for Eddie Howe will be to add another winger to cause havoc on the opposite flank to Allan Saint-Maximin.
Moussa Diaby is one of the key names linked for that role but a deal to lure him away from Bayer Leverkusen will be expensive.
Newcastle will look towards other options and one of them would be Porto ace Pepe.
Newcastle United want Porto winger Pepe
Portuguese newspaper Correio da Manha report that Newcastle are expected to make an offer for Pepe in the coming days.
In May it was claimed in Portugal that Arsenal were showing a keen interest in signing Pepe, but his £51million release clause was a problem.
This latest report notes that Newcastle’s offer would be short of what Porto want, so there could be a gap in valuations.
When you hear of a Pepe at Porto you assume it’s the veteran centre back, famed for his days at Real Madrid.
Instead it’s the winger Pepe, who only joined Porto from Gremio last summer.
The 25-year-old has blistering pace and showed it with a stunning run to set up Zaidu Sanusi’s winner against Benfica – the goal that sealed the Portuguese league title for Porto.
Pepe notched six goals and six assists in his first season at Porto but wasn’t always a regular starter for Sergio Conceicao’s side.
That will certainly be Newcastle’s argument when they try to negotiate down from Pepe’s release clause.
It looks like Arsenal have moved on and will instead target Pepe’s compatriot Raphinha at Leeds United.
That could leave the door open for Newcastle to go and sign Pepe, with the coming days potentially vital to their pursuit of the exciting wide man.
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