Newcastle have been credited with interest in making an early move for a star making waves in Serie A, with the Premier League seemingly his next destination.
Newcastle struggle in summer window
It was a tough summer for Newcastle United, who went into the window with high hopes of continuing their push to join the Premier League elite but ended it with a net profit of £22m.
Forced to part ways with young duo Yankuba Minteh and Elliot Anderson for financial fair play reasons at the beginning of the window, Eddie Howe’s side pushed hard to sign Marc Guehi from Crystal Palace, only to see several bids rejected and ending up without their no.1 centre-back target.
It meant that the Magpies spent just £43m across the summer, bringing in two goalkeepers as well as William Osula from Sheffield United, while Lloyd Kelly arrived on a free transfer after his contract at Bournemouth expired.
Speaking after the window, Sporting director Dan Ashworth put their lack of spending down to a “Newcastle tax” clubs applied knowing that they are backed by the wealthy Saudi Public Investment Fund, making them the richest club in world football on paper.
“The [Newcastle tax] was a real thing,” he explained. “It’s about setting precedents to the market that we will pay fair value for the right profile [of player] for sure.
“It shouldn’t be misconceived of a lack of ambition, I just think that’s the model you have to work in the modern game now. There’s a lot of common factors that we need to adjust to make sure we keep being sustainably successful.”
But money is there to be spent, and now Newcastle have been tipped to dip into their reserves to battle two more Premier League clubs for an exciting teenager.
Newcastle join race for Patrick Dorgu
That comes as reports in Italy credit Newcastle with an interest in young Lecce defender Patrick Dorgu, who is impressing at club level and made his Denmark debut over the most recent international break.
The full back has three years left to run on his £2,000 a week deal with the Serie A side, but there are strong indications that he will not be seeing out his time with Lecce.
