In their quest to find a centre-back, Newcastle United targeted two players across Europe in particular.
The first was Sven Botman, currently at Lille in France, while the other was Diego Carlos, who reportedly came close to a move to St James’ Park, but Sevilla stood in his way.
Since then, the former of the two has seen his agents talk up a potential summer move to Newcastle, and the player himself has admitted he is living his final months in the north of France, meaning a transfer in the summer is more than expected.
Newcastle are likely to be among those trying to sign him then if they avoid relegation, but so are Milan, with Gazzetta dello Sport reporting that Botman’s representative, Nikkie Bruinenberg, was present at San Siro on Wednesday night to see the Serie A side overcome Lazio 4-0.
This has quickly led to them suggesting a meeting could take place between the agent and the Italians, before explaining that Lille ‘turned down an offer of over €45m from Newcastle’ in January.
The relevance of this comes when discussing a potential summer transfer, because while the Ligue 1 side can’t hold out for the moon, they are ‘unlikely to fall below those figures’ in the upcoming transfer window for their star defender.
Lille have notoriously sold well in the past, getting huge amounts of money for the likes of Victor Osimhen and Nicolas Pépé, and they will probably do so again this year when clubs come knocking for Botman.
It’s a warning sign that the Dutchman won’t come cheap, which, while problematic for Milan, probably isn’t for the Magpies.
