Having surprised everyone by nearly beating Manchester City on Sunday, Newcastle United are looking like a force to be reckoned with this season.
Eddie Howe has done wonders at St James’ Park since taking over the Magpies, pulling them out of a dire relegation battle to where they are now, and a lot of that has to do with the signings.
There’s no denying the talent of Bruno Guimaraes and the impact Kieran Trippier has had since joining, as well as what the others have done since the takeover.
Newcastle have also signed a few other players this summer, including Sven Botman and Nick Pope, and they aren’t done.
Midfield remains an area Howe wants improved, and L’Equipe in France are reporting Borussia Mönchengladbach’s Manu Koné is a player they want.
Newcastle want a player ‘who can play as a six or an eight’ and have made the Frenchman ‘a priority for this role’.
In fact, the Magpies have let Gladbach know that ‘they’re ready to spend more than €35m’ on the midfielder, and while there is yet to be an official offer, the Bundesliga side were made aware ‘of the envelope potentially on its way’.
However, that didn’t stop them from giving an answer, which was ‘negative’.
The question put forward by L’Equipe is ‘what would happen if the club made an offer superior to €45m?’
The answer appears to be already known, which is that Gladbach want to keep their squad together and are ‘rather firm’: they will only potentially consider a Koné exit in the summer of 2023.
