Newcastle United are seen as the ‘main danger’ for Inter Milan in their attempts to sign Marcus Thuram in the January transfer window.
That’s according to Calciomercato.it, who cover the race for the Frenchman’s signature today and how Newcastle could ruin Inter’s hopes of winning it.
They explain the Italian side are ready to go ‘to the limit’ to sign Thuram, believing that he would ‘revolutionise’ their attack moving forwards.
They are already planning for next season, having half given up on the title this season after something of a disappointing first half of the campaign.
It is not over yet by any means, but planning is moving ahead regardless and Thuram is a major part of the business they would like to do.
Indeed, he is the ‘main target’ for those in charge of the club and they have already put forward a proposal to the Frenchman and his representatives.
The channel with his agency is ‘open’, although there has only been one meeting and there are other sharks circling.
The two parties are set to meet again at the beginning of January, at which point Inter will propose a deal with €5m per year for five years, which is more or less the maximum they can offer.
However, the road to getting a deal done ‘remains complicated’ as there are several important and richer clubs interested in Thuram.
One of those would be Newcastle, who, backed by their owners, could comfortably outbid Inter in the auction and are considered the ‘main danger’ by those in charge of the Italian club.
They have the money but also a growing profile, having risen to second in the Premier League table and shown the rest of the world that they intend to continue ‘growing’ in the coming months.
Gazzetta dello Sport back this up, explaining that Inter are ‘intimidated’ by the wealthy Premier League teams who are also keen on Thuram.
Newcastle are ‘above all’ in that regard. They have been ‘astounding’ this season and could offer a much higher salary than the Serie A side in the summer, when Thuram is a free agent.
They can also easily pay the €10m to sign him in January if they want to, although this is something the player does not want.
Thus, Inter have work to do to get their man, with talks planned in the coming days in an effort to lock him up and stop the Magpies from swooping in.
