Newcastle United midfielder Sean Longstaff remains on the Manchester United radar.
According to the Daily Star, Manchester United’s Ed Woodward now thinks Newcastle United will be willing to sell midfielder Sean Longstaff for around £40million.
The Red Devils have been disappointing of late, and it’s clear that they’re lacking real quality in the middle of the park, having failed to address that problem in pre-season.
United targeted two homegrown midfielders to solve their problems; Newcastle ace Longstaff and West Ham United star Declan Rice, but couldn’t sign either of them.
Now, Woodward allegedly thinks that Newcastle will be willing drop their asking price from £55million to around £40million, given the unrest and poor form at St James’ Park.
It would be a surprise to see Newcastle sell the 21-year-old in January, and paying that kind of cash for a player with just 13 Premier League appearances to his name would be gamble.
If Newcastle are still struggling come January, Longstaff may well feel that a move to Old Trafford would be a step forward, and the Magpies would at least be able to reinvest that cash if they did sell.
Longstaff is seemingly United’s top midfield target now, with the club backing away from West Ham’s Rice due to their huge asking price, which is around double that of Longstaff.
That’s great news for West Ham, as they will hope to avoid losing the England international mid-season – but it turns the pressure onto Newcastle to try and keep home of academy graduate Longstaff.
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