Newcastle have reached a ‘full verbal agreement’ to sign Malick Thiaw from AC Milan while their ‘top’ alternative to Benjamin Sesko ‘pushes’ for the move to St James’ Park.
The Magpies have endured a harrowing transfer window thus far, missing out on a number of targets including Liam Delap, Bryan Mbeumo, James Trafford and Hugo Ekitike, while Alexander Isak trains alone following a bid from Liverpool for his services as their ideal replacement Sesko looks set to snub them for Manchester United.
On their bid to sign Sesko, The Athletic’s David Ornstein revealed:
‘Newcastle initially tabled €75million plus €5m in add-ons, before raising that on Monday to at least €80m. Within 24 hours, Manchester United made a proposal of their own worth €75m plus €10m.
‘Newcastle have continued working to secure the transfer and on Tuesday a bid of €82.5m plus €2.5m was accepted by Leipzig. But Sesko wants to join Manchester United and all parties are now aware of that, as talks advance in an effort to satisfy Leipzig’s expectations. While there is no club-to-club agreement yet, the situation is moving in that direction.’
Newcastle will have to turn to other options and a report from journalist Subhankar Mondal for our pals at TEAMtalk claims Brentford star Yoane Wissa is ‘pushing to join’ the Magpies and he is their ‘top alternative’ to Sesko.
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Newcastle are also in the market for a new centre-back and are targeting AC Milan’s Thiaw as an alternative to Crystal Palace star Marc Guehi.
On Tuesday afternoon, Fabrizio Romano tweeted: ‘Understand Newcastle are set to approach AC Milan for Malick Thiaw.
‘Talks will follow as Thiaw is already an important player for Max Allegri after Como deal off in July. #NUFC will try to open discussions over price soon.’
Italian outlet Corriere dello Sport later claimed Newcastle have had a ‘significant offer’ worth around 30 million euros rejected by AC Milan as they are holding out for 35 million euros.
That news was backed up by Sky Germany’s Florian Plettenberg, who also confirmed that Newcastle have reached a contract agreement with the 23-year-old.
Plettenberg wrote on X: ‘Newcastle have reached a full verbal agreement with Malick Thiaw on a contract until 2029! /@berger_pj
‘Negotiations between the clubs are ongoing, but Massimiliano Allegri is keen to keep him. The latest offer stood at €30 million. Bayer 04 Leverkusen are monitoring the situation. #NUFC’.
