Report: Newcastle United hold advantage despite Fulham agreeing Diego Rolan deal

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Fulham will pay £5m for Bordeaux forward Diego Rolan – but the Uruguayan may still be on his way to Newcastle United instead.

The pieces of the puzzle finally appear to be coming together for Newcastle United. A £12 million deal to sign England Under-21 star Jacob Murphy from Norwich City has been agreed, as reported by Sky Sports, and the winger may be joined at St James’ Park by an international striker.

According to The Chronicle, Newcastle United remain hopeful of nabbing Bordeaux’s Uruguayan forward Diego Rolan from under the noses of Fulham.

Rolan has four goals in 23 caps for Uruguay

Sky Sports reported that The Cottagers, who have been linked for a number of weeks, had agreed a £5 million fee with the Ligue 1 club for the signature of their 24-year-old striker.

Goals were hardly a problem for Fulham last season, netting as many as title winning Newcastle, but Chris Martin’s return to Derby County opened up a space in their attack for a player who scored 31 goals across the last three Ligue 1 campaigns.

However, no deal is signed just yet and The Chronicle claims that Newcastle cannot be ruled out. Rolan is understood to prefer a move to the Premier League rather than the Championship and this gives The Magpies, who returned to the top flight at the first time of asking in 2016/17, a rather obvious advantage.

Manager Rafael Benitez is understood to have made a new striker a top priority with Dwight Gayle the only Newcastle player to hit more than 15 goals in the Championship last season.

And this is not the first time Newcastle have been linked with Rolan, The Mirror reporting two years ago that they had an £11 million bid rejected by Bordeaux.