Newcastle United's search to sign a new number 6 to complement Eddie Howe's midfield options could make for an interesting lead up to the start of pre-season training.
The Magpies were linked with a £68.5million move for French international Aurelien Tchouameni over the weekend and while that would be an exciting purchase, his £230,000 per week wages would pose a challenge for United unless they were prepared to smash their current pay structure. The Tchouameni story comes off the back of talk in Spain that Real Madrid could offload the France World Cup star.
Tchouameni has only been with Real Madrid for one season after his £68million move from Monaco last summer. The defensive midfielder made 50 appearances for the Spanish giants last term.
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When news from Spain broke last night that Newcastle were interested in Tchouameni, sources closer to the player's circle in France stated that his preference is to remain at the Santiago Bernabeu. The link comes off the back of Newcastle's reported interest in Nicolò Barella.
The Italy international has had an £85.3million price tag placed on his shoulders by Inter Milan since the stories linking him with Newcastle emerged earlier this month. Adding a marquee midfielder to the ranks at St James' Park would really spice things up for United though.
He already has Bruno Guimaraes, Joelinton, Sean Longstaff and Joe Willock at his disposal while Anthony Gordon played as a number 8 on the final day of the season at Chelsea in the 1-1 draw. With the Champions League games set to add more competition to the fixture list, Howe knows he needs star quality in the ranks in order to keep moving in the right direction.
Talks are set to continue with Leicester City on James Maddison with the player set to return from international duty after tonight's England clash against North Macedonia. Maddison told reporters he was focused on nothing but Three Lions duty in the Euro qualifying programme last week.
