Newcastle United remain in the picture for RC Lens defender Abdukodir Khusanov, with Jorge Mendes now given a mandate to secure a sale in January.
That’s according to L’Equipe, who report that Newcastle are one of the sides to have ‘come forward’ for the 20-year-old as Lens look to sell.
The newspaper explains that Lens owner and major shareholder Joseph Oughourlian has ordered sales at the club next month to balance the books and lower the wage bill.
Sporting director Diego Lopez is now working on that and has made it clear to all agents that now player in the current squad is untransferable.
Khusanov is one of the current ‘headliner’ players in the squad and the French side have given agent Jorge Mendes a mandate to find a buyer for €25-30m. They do believer, however, that they can get more from the Premier League teams who are interested.
Newcastle are one of them alongside Leicester, Manchester City and Tottenham. They have all ‘come forward’ alongside RB Leipzig.
The Magpies have been linked since the end of October, with a report stating they and Everton had lined up the player. That was followed by a claim at the beginning of this month Mendes had offered Khusanov to Newcastle and Wolves.
The latest report a week ago then stated that Newcastle had the player at the top of their list ahead of January.
With Lens now very open to a sale and making that clear, perhaps that will tempt the Magpies into doing business and give Eddie Howe the defensive cover he’s long needed.
