The players Newcastle has been following in previous seasons, Nice’s Jean-Clair Todibo and Bournemouth’s Dominic Solanke, are getting close to making big-money deals.
According to Fabrizio Romano, West Ham has snuck into Juventus’ deal for Todibo. The centre back is currently travelling to London to finish his initial loan term, which comes with a buyout clause of €40 million (£35 million) for next summer.
Newcastle scouts have been following Todibo for a while, and last month it was revealed that sporting director Paul Mitchell had looked into a move for the France international defender who is currently on his way to the Hammers.
Then, regarding Dominic Solanke, David Ornstein of The Athletic reports that as Spurs finalise a deal that would see them sign their first striker since Harry Kane was sold to Bayern Munich last summer, Bournemouth has agreed to a club-record deal to sell the striker, who has a £65 million release clause in his contract.
Two strong deals for two teams that could finish in the top six next season; the Hammers signed an impressive new player this summer in Julen Lopetegui, the former manager of Spain, Sevilla, and Wolves.
Earlier this year, Eddie Howe expressed his appreciation for Solanke following a report by The Telegraph that said Solanke was being considered as a possible Callum Wilson replacement. But it was soon acknowledged that we were not going to be able to afford to spend a lot of money on a striker who would come in to challenge Alexander Isak.
Mark Douglas of I paper said yesterday that there’s confidence an agreement would be reached as talks continue. Newcastle clinched a deal for third-choice striker would Osula yesterday and remain confident of agreeing to a deal for Crystal Palace centre-back Marc Guehi.
