“There has been a call” – Newcastle make last-minute move to hijack transfer, Magpies shot down

First said to be heading to Manchester, the latest on Kim Min-jae’s future has all been about a move to Bayern Munich.

However, Newcastle United, perhaps still running on all the adrenaline from the Sandro Tonali deal, gave it a go at the last minute.

That’s according to RAI’s Ciro Venerato, relayed by Calcio Napoli 24, who revealed on Domenica Sportiva about the Magpies’ attempt.

He said: “We reconfirm what was said: Kim chose Bayern, but there has been a call from Newcastle in the last few hours to Naples. However, the club then learned from the player’s agents that he has now chosen Bayern.”

Therefore, Newcastle, knowing they would have to trigger the release clause in Kim’s contract to get a deal done, still tried their luck to see if they could convince the South Korea international to direct his attention to Tyneside rather than Bavaria.

However, it was not meant to be, the defender appears intent on heading to Bayern this summer after just one year at Napoli.

As for Newcastle, they will have to make do with Tonali and someone else to bolster their defence, with David Hancko recently said to be of interest to Eddie Howe.