Newcastle United are closing in on the signing of AC Milan defender Malick Thiaw.
The centre-back is because of fly to Tyneside on Sunday night time to finalise his transfer to St James' Park.
Newcastle have missed out on a number of targets this summer time, together with Benjamin Sesko, Hugo Ekitike, Joao Pedro and James Trafford, however Thiaw is eager to affix the membership.
The Germany worldwide will endure a medical earlier than finishing a deal reportedly value as much as £34.62m (40m euros), together with add-ons.
Bringing in a brand new centre-back was a precedence for Newcastle this summer time as supervisor Eddie Howe appears to be like to extend competitors and decrease the common age of an skilled squad.
Though Howe didn't remark instantly on Thiaw over the weekend, the top coach has beforehand referred to the 24-year-old as a “excellent participant”.
Howe stated he was “hopeful” of constructing a breakthrough within the switch market earlier than Newcastle's opening day conflict in opposition to Aston Villa on Saturday.
“However I've been looking forward to numerous weeks,” he stated on Friday night time. “As I've stated many occasions, everybody behind the scenes has been working extremely laborious and has been very eager to get some motion within the switch market.
“However it's troublesome and it must be the precise participant on the proper worth. There are quite a lot of circumstances that need to be proper for a switch to undergo.
“I do consider we will nonetheless produce a really sturdy staff. The steadiness of the squad will not be fairly proper and we all know that and we hope to regulate that with a few of the signings we hope to make. Let's have a look at what occurs.”
