Newcastle United are edging closer to a club record deal for Marc Guehi after tabling a fourth bid understood to be in the region of £65m.
The Magpies are one of several Premier League clubs “spinning plates” in the final fortnight of the transfer window with player exits still a possibility to facilitate further signings.
An insider predicted a “frantic” end to the summer, with the transfer market finally hotting up and Newcastle braced for bids for Kieran Trippier and Miguel Almiron, who was the subject of interest from Major League Soccer side Charlotte FC this week.
But it is England defender Guehi who has always been the club’s top central defender target, and a fourth offer to Palace that is closer to their asking price could finally bring an end the long-running saga.
Eddie Howe, playing the straightest of bats to questions about the deal this week, said he was not aware of a deal being close at his press conference on Friday.
Palace are considering the bid and it may require further tweaks to the terms before they accept it – Chelsea have a sizeable, 20 per cent sell-on clause for Guehi – but the latest offer appears to have changed the mood music around the deal.
It looks increasingly as if Newcastle will be required to top the £63m they paid for Alexander Isak two years ago to broker a deal for Guehi and the size of the fee is why the club’s director of football Paul Mitchell has been attempting to drive a hard bargain.
Newcastle’s position under the Premier League’s Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR) means every extra million paid out for Guehi is felt in their attempts to recruit elsewhere.
They are actively in the market for a right winger and are also understood to be looking at further “project players” in the mould of William Osula, who they signed from Sheffield United last week.
An unsettling summer has seen Newcastle lose Yankuba Minteh and Elliot Anderson, two of their outstanding young players, to comply with PSR while struggling to offload some players who are surplus to requirements.
Then there is a third column of players that Howe wants to keep in an ideal world but must contemplate selling to provide PSR headroom. One of those is Almiron but Howe insisted on Friday he remains a “very important player” in the Newcastle squad and, as i reported earlier this week, there is no desire to drive him out of the club.
It said a lot that Bruno Guimaraes, newly installed in the club’s leadership group, posted a show of support on social media on Friday.
Howe summed up some of the dilemmas Newcastle have by admitting on Friday that “to sign players and make the squad better, it’s difficult”.
But, he said, “it is achievable – we can do it”. A deal for Guehi would represent that kind of business.
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