Newcastle pushing hard to sign ‘world-class’ player, after claims Liverpool are about to make a bid

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Newcastle are moving forward with an unlikely attempt to sign reported Liverpool target Nicolo Barella.

Barella has been rumoured to have been on the Reds’ radar for a long time now. Latest reports come from the back end of May, and claim that Liverpool have been ‘weighing up’ making a big offer for the Inter Milan midfielder.

But now, it appears that Newcastle are jumping ahead of them in the queue. Or at least so say The Telegraph, who claim that the Magpies are ‘pushing hard’ to complete a £50m deal for Barella.

It’s claimed that Newcastle see the deal as being ‘reachable’ with talks having taken place over recent days. However, it reportedly isn’t finalised just yet. There is still said to be ‘work to be done’ to get it over the line.

Should they manage to convince Inter to sell one of their star players, it’s claimed that Barella would become the top earner at St James’ Park. The Italy international is reportedly one of two major midfield signings earmarked by Eddie Howe. The other is seemingly another reported Liverpool target, James Maddison.

Newcastle looking to make Barella statement

Wow, what a statement this would be from Newcastle. As they prepare to embark on a first Champions League campaign for 20 years, this is the kind of signing to make other teams sit up and take notice.

Having said that, we simply don’t see how this happens.

Liverpool’s reported interest in Barella has always felt like a dead end. It has been years since the first reports linking the 26-year-old with an Anfield move and it seems just as unrealistic now as it did then.

Top Italian players just don’t tend to leave top Italian clubs for foreign shores. Especially not for £50m.

Newcastle might see that as a good starting bid, but there’s a chance Inter may see it as derisory. Dealing with a side as wealthy as the Geordies, the Nerazzurri are unlikely to sell Barella on the cheap. Why would they. The reality is that he’s worth a lot more than that. Especially to Inter.

When you have a player getting called ‘world-class’ by Steven Gerrard, you can feasibly quote any price you like.

So, from a Liverpool point of view, we wouldn’t worry all that much about this one. We don’t think the Reds will sign him either way. But unless they’re willing to go a lot higher in their offer, we can’t see Newcastle doing so either.