Newcastle United are assessing their options in the transfer market in the centre-back area with Jamaal Lascelles interesting newly promoted Luton Town.
In another weekend in which Newcastle were linked with a host of names, the most high profile of them came in the shape of England centre-back Harry Maguire with the 30-year-old now not guaranteed his place at Manchester United. Maguire was linked with a loan move to Newcastle with the player's representatives currently mulling over possible destinations for the Euro 2020 star with the Magpies on their wish-list of potential suitors.
United have explored the possibility of luring Kim Min-jae to St James' Park with the Napoli ace keen to move to the Premier League. But it could cost Newcastle a minimum of £42million due to the South Korea international's release clause.
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The Maguire links are coming from the Manchester United end and the centre-back's £200,000 per week wages are currently above the highest earner at Newcastle making it a tricky deal to do. A fee of £30million has been slapped on the out of favour Man United defender who still has two years left on his current contract at Old Trafford.
The link has not been confirmed or denied at this stage by Newcastle but his future at Man United looks far from assured. Lisandro Martinez and Raphael Varane were Erik Ten Hag's preferred duo at the back last season with Maguire making just 16 appearances in the Premier League.
Ten Hag said at the end of the season: "No-one would be happy with this situation. He is not as well. He trains always on best levels, so with 100% effort. So he handles that situation well and he's in that manner and in his captaincy he's important for the squad.
"He has high competition there with Raphael Varane, who's fantastic. Let's say I'm happy he's here and when we needed him he did his job. But it's also a decision he has to make."
United skipper Lascelles' exit increases the likelihood of a new centre-back coming in with the ex-Nottingham Forest star struggling for game-time last season in the Premier League. A move to Luton would remedy that but already the Hatters are hot favourites to go down.
Lascelles, who will be 30 later this year, will see his current deal run down at the end of the 2023/24 season and he may want more security. That wouldn't rule out a season long loan deal to Luton before he could then assess his options later down the line.
But throughout last season Lascelles showed a willingness to fight for his place and with more competitions available to play in next season after Champions League qualification, he may not want to alter his stance.
