Newcastle are ‘close’ to loaning Barcelona player for €2m, pending work permit application

Newcastle United are close to loaning Marlon from Barcelona for the upcoming season, reports Sport on Wednesday evening.

The Catalan newspaper says the temporary move is now ‘close’ and there sounds some confidence it could happen.

Rafael Benitez’s side would complete the deal by paying a loan fee of €2m for the Brazilian. They would not have a pbuying clause at the end of the season, according to the claims.

The move would be dependent on Marlon being granted a work permit, given his passport status and lack of international appearances. This can be tricky with a loan where the value of a transfer fee can’t be used to help.

Marlon is a 22 year old central defender and spent last season on loan at Nice in France’s Ligue 1. It was supposed to be a two year loan but Barca called him back because they thought they had a sale lined up to a Premier League club.

West Ham were supposed to be the club but they backed away, and similar was said to have happened with Southampton.