Newcastle United will be offered the chance again to land explosive striker Victor Osimhen again this summer with Napoli keen to offload the Nigeria star.
The Magpies were invited to sign the goal machine last summer but baulked at the £113million asking price from Napoli and his representatives have been back on the scene to find him a Premier League club. The Serie A side have no interest in keeping Osimhen but his release clause drops again this summer as he nears the end of his loan to Galatasaray.
Indeed, a minimum fee release clause of around £60m will be available to Newcastle this summer. Incredibly, Osimhen was left with no club in any of the top Euro leagues and ended up on loan at Galatasaray with the Turkish Lig offering him a lifeline with most other transfer windows closed.
The Turkish top-flight leaders would love him to stay but can’t afford to pay a permanent fee. The big question mark for Newcastle could be Osimhen’s wages with the striker picking up over £200,000 per week during his Napoli days. That is believed to have dropped to around £110,000 per week at Galatasaray but he is highly likely to leave Turkey after his loan deal.
Arsenal, Man United and Chelsea have all looked closely at the 26-year-old. The former Lille star has hit 17 goals for Gala this season and has impressed in the Europa League, courting the attention of Premier League scouts.
After a barren winter window, Newcastle’s scouting department are now whittling down a list of targets for the summer. Eddie Howe hinted on Friday that he was still keen to sign an “established” star.
Emil Krafth talks take place
The Magpies have been around the table with the Sweden defender in recent days with his contract coming to an end this summer. Now 30, Krafth is deemed as a dream squad player for Howe with the ex-Amiens star coming back from a serious knee injury last term and a broken collar bone this season to fight for his place again.
Krafth is set to be part of things at Birmingham in the FA Cup today and when asked if he was about to renew his contract, Howe, on the eve of the tie, simply said: “I believe talks are still ongoing. He’s certainly someone we want to keep.”
Garang Kuol deadline day truth
The Australia international was linked with moves back to the Australian A-League on deadline day but the truth was he never came close to leaving. The stories circulating on Kuol were based on enquiries made earlier in the window and the 20-year-old left winger will now be told to get his head down and impress Eddie Howe via the Under-21 team.
A United source said: “He was never going anywhere on deadline day.” Kuol had loan stints at Heart of Midlothian and FC Volendam in the 2023/24 season and appeared for the senior team during the post-season tour of Australia but must now try to get closer to Howe’s plans this term.
Eddie Howe runs rule over 15-year-old Academy star in first-team training
The gates of the first-team training ground between the Academy and the senior training camp remain wide open. Or at least that was the case as Howe welcomed Sam Alabi, a 2023 signing from Oldham Athletic’s Academy, to senior training last week.
The Manchester-born central midfielder has impressed in the Under-18s this season with nine appearances and one assist and starred in the FA Youth Cup. Howe has made it clear that he wants to give youngsters the belief that there is a clear pathway to the first-team these days.
Both Lewis Miley and Elliot Anderson are great examples of his youth policy but in a fast moving world, Howe knows it can’t stop there.
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