Manchester United boss Ralf Rangnick has confirmed Newcastle United's pursuit of England international Jesse Lingard.
The deal looks like it will boil down to a permanent cash transfer for the 29-year-old winger with the Red Devils not keen on loaning him out and simply allowing him to run his contract down to expiry day in June.
That means either an astronomical loan fee or transfer package that would take Lingard of Man United's wage bill would be required.
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At his Press conference today Rangnick stated that there were other clubs keen on Lingard but when asked about Newcastle's interest the ex-Schalke 04 boss said: "He's a really good player, it's normal - Newcastle showed interest in him but I am not the one dealing with that.
"The question is what Jesse wants to do - I wouldn't be unhappy if he stayed until the rest of the season.
"I couldn't say what will happen in the next 10 days.
"As I said, it's the question is what does the player want, what kind of other options does he have, does he have the chance to get more game-time?
"Those are all questions I cannot answer for him or for other players, this is something that has to be done by the players and the agents, themselves.
"What I can say is he's a very good player, a technical player, of course he can play in many Premier League clubs on a regular basis.
"Here, at Manchester United, it's not so easy, we have other players who can also play in that position and we cannot change from one game to the other on five or six positions.
"I know his contract is expiring in the summer, the question is what does he want to do?
"Does he want to get more game-time from now on, then I think it's quite legitimate to speak and think about other options. But I wouldn't be unhappy if he stayed until the rest of the season because I know he is a player who can always play even if we need to play him from the start, I know what kind of level I'll get from him."
Eddie Howe hinted earlier that Lingard's fears about relegation could be eased with clauses, and reflected: "With relegation release clauses we will always look at on an individual basis.
"I don't think there's any hard and fast rules where we say 100% this or 100% that."
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