West Ham United are also talking to Bayer Leverkusen star Victor Boniface but Newcastle United are leading the way for him.
That’s according to journalist Christian Falk, who reports that Newcastle are out in front for the Nigerian at this moment in time.
Reports around Boniface have become somewhat confused over the last 24 hours, with it first claimed in England that Newcastle were talking to him. This was denied in Germany, where BILD insisted that Newcastle and Leverkusen hadn’t spoken about the striker.
Falk now flips matters the other way, insisting that Newcastle are discussing the striker and could even face competition from West Ham.
“He is not only in talks with Newcastle but also with West Ham. Newcastle are the hottest candidate, though,” he said.
“We know he was close to Saudi Arabia and there is that connection. They are a club that would be a good fit however the numbers are not anywhere near the €15m net he would have earned in Saudi Arabia.
“There were talks ongoing at Leverkusen, who would like to extend him with an extra two years and increase his salary from his salary from €3m to €6m. They are now on hold. He could still double his wages at Newcastle so that would be a good move for him.”
We’ll take this information with a pinch of salt for now given Falk’s own newspaper, BILD, denied the Newcastle claims earlier today.
We would suggest that there may be an agent at work gearing up for the summer, perhaps trying to arouse interest in his client after he missed out on the money spinning move to Saudi Arabia in January.
That would certainly make sense and explain the conflicting reports, which we’re sure there’ll be more of in the coming months regarding Newcastle and West Ham as well.
