Your Newcastle United transfer round-up for Thursday, August 4.
Hammers ‘close’ to Cornet
West Ham have emerged as the favourites to sign Maxwel Cornet, according to The Guardian. ChronicleLive understood the Burnley winger had been offered to Newcastle last month following their relegation to the Championship.
Cornet has a £17.5million release clause in his contract and it is no secret Eddie Howe is aiming to strengthen his frontline. Signing the former Lyon man would be an affordable addition to the United ranks.
However, reports now claim the hammers are in pole position to land the Ivorian. David Moyes has hit a hurdle in his attempt to lure Filip Kostic to East London from Eintracht Frankfurt.
Like Newcastle, West Ham are also reportedly aiming to negotiate with Burnley for a lower transfer fee. Cornet bagged nine goals in his debut Premier League campaign last season.
DCL move likely off
Any potential move for Dominic Calvert-Lewin is likely to be off, with the England international thought to have suffered a serious knee injury in training. Conflicting reports have given different timescales on his return but he is certainly out for the opening month of the campaign.
The Everton striker has been persistently linked with Newcastle since the end of last season. A hefty £60million transfer fee was mooted and, since then, talk of a move has cooled.
Any possibility of a Tyneside switch now appears a non-starter due to his injury. Calvert-Lewin will be sweating on securing a place for Gareth Southgates’ World Cup squad.
Toon hunting 6ft 6in striker
Sky Sports’ chief reporter Kaveh Solhekol namechecked Newcastle alongside seven other top-flight clubs in the race to sign Strasbourg striker Ludovic Ajorque. At 6ft 6in, the Frenchman certainly has the physical attributes to compete in the Premier League.
Solhekol said: "A player who we could be hearing a lot more from in the next couple of weeks played against Liverpool for Strasbourg at the weekend.
"He's a striker called Ludovic Ajorque, a 6ft 6in striker with a very good scoring record for them, is available for £18m. I'm told the clubs that watched him yesterday were Wolves, Everton, Leicester, West Ham, Fulham, Nottingham Forest, Bournemouth and Newcastle. He's someone we might be hearing a lot more from."
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