A Newcastle target has verbally agreed to a five-year deal with a different club, with the Magpies miss poised to embolden their pursuit of Leicester ace, per reports.
The bulk of Newcastle’s successful signings since the Saudi-led takeover have come on the defensive end of the game.
Eddie Howe is still waiting to see the best from Alexander Isak and Anthony Gordon. However, the likes of Nick Pope, Kieran Trippier, Sven Botman and Dan Burn have been instant hits and all have their place in Newcastle’s strongest eleven.
Unsurprisingly, Newcastle have excelled in their own half, with their mark of 15 by far the fewest goals conceded by any Premier League side this season. The joint-second meanest defences come from Arsenal and Chelsea who’ve both shipped eight goals more (23).
However, finding the net at the other end has been a challenge for Newcastle. Indeed, they’ve slipped down to fifth place in the league following a run of one win in seven. The Magpies have scored just three times in that stretch.
A creative midfielder is believed to be on the club’s radar over the summer and one name banded around was Eintracht Frankfurt’s Daichi Kamada.
The Japan international, 26, will become a free agent at season’s end and per 90min, Newcastle were among those chasing his signature.
Kamada operates in an attacking midfield role and has bagged 13 goals and five assists across all competitions this season with Frankfurt.
Newcastle were labelled ‘confident’ they were leading the race, but per Fabrizio Romano, their hopes have been dashed.
The transfer guru tweeted Borussia Dortmund are ‘closing in’ on the free agent swoop after Kamada ‘verbally agreed’ to a five-year deal.
Romano noted there were approaches made by ‘three more clubs’, though stopped short of confirming whether Newcastle were among them.
In any case, barring a dramatic late U-turn, Kamada will be joining Dortmund in June.
Kamada miss to heighten Maddison need
The transfer miss is unlikely to deter Newcastle who may now be emboldened to pursue Leicester City’s James Maddison.
Maddison is the same age as Kamada and the Magpies have twice seen bids for the playmaker knocked back since the Saudis took charge. Their latest offer last summer, per Sky Sports, was understood to be worth £50m.
Leicester refused to budge, though the story could be different one year later.
Maddison will have just one year remaining on his deal at season’s end and as such, the summer window will represent Leicester’s last chance to extract full market value for their talisman.
The Northern Echo stated a ‘renewed attempt’ to sign Maddison will be made and potentially being able to offer Champions League football would be a feather in their cap.
Maddison is a bona fide creative force and has racked up 14 goal contributions in 19 matches for Leicester this term.
That’s doubled down on his undoubted talents after he returned figures of 18 goals and 12 assists in 53 matches last season.
