Newcastle United are increasingly confident of landing Joe Willock from Arsenal but look set to miss out on Genoa’s Serie A enforcer Lukas Lerager, according to reports.
12 months ago today, Steve Bruce saw a club record £45 million deal for Lille ace Boubakary Soumare collapse on deadline day.
And with the Magpies as desperate now as they were then to bring in an athletic, technically skilled central midfielder, Bruce will be praying history doesn’t repeat itself before the 11pm deadline.
Lerager is heading back to Denmark rather than St James’ Park – although a move for the 27-year-old former Bordeaux ace was nowhere near as advanced as the one that would have seen Soumare replace Joelinton as Newcastle’s record signing.
At the weekend, BT reported Newcastle wanted the £5 million-rated Denmark international.
However, Gianluca di Marzio claims Lerager has agreed to join Copenhagen instead on an initial loan deal that will become permanent at the end of 2020/21.
While one door closes, however, another swings open.
The Sun (live blog, 11.22am) reports Newcastle are in “pole position” to sign the exciting Willock from Premier League rivals Arsenal.
Mikel Arteta is happy to loan out an attacking midfielder who has started just two Premier League games this season and fallen even further down the pecking order after Martin Odegaard’s arrival.
“He’s developing the right way. He’s a player I like. He has some special qualities and he’s showing it with his performances, his goals and his attitude,” Arteta told The Sun in November.
“The thing is we have a big squad at the moment.”
Unlike every midfielder currently in Newcastle’s squad, Willock is capable of scoring plenty of goals from the centre of the park. He’s a fine finisher renowned for his late runs into the penalty area.
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