Newcastle United are increasingly confident of signing Kieran Trippier from Atlético Madrid by the end of the week and hope to open formal negotiations with the 31-year-old England right-back within the next 48 hours.
Although Atlético rejected Newcastle’s initial offer for Trippier, a deal in the region of £25m is expected to be finalised after Diego Simeone appeared to abandon realistic hope of keeping him in the Spanish capital.
“Kieran Trippier is an extraordinary footballer who has given us a lot and we will try to keep him,” said Atlético’s manager. “We want him to stay, he’s an important player, but nowadays, when a player wants to leave, you can’t force them to stay. You can’t retain them.”
Although Trippier started Atlético’s 2-0 home win against Rayo Vallecano on Sunday, he appeared to wave farewell to the crowd at the end and was the last player to leave the pitch.
With Chelsea potentially interested in Trippier, Eddie Howe is keen to seal the reunion with a player he signed for Burnley as soon as possible but Newcastle’s manager seems unlikely to have Sven Botman alongside Trippier in defence when Watford visit St James’ Park for a vital relegation “six-pointer” on Saturday week.
Newcastle have had a bid rejected by Lille for Botman, a Netherlands Under-21 centre-half who has recently broken into his country’s senior squad. The French club appear determined to keep the 21-year-old, with an offer in the region of £30m currently insufficient to persuade them to part with a defender also admired by, among others, Milan. Although Lille have financial difficulties they are in the knockout stages of the Champions League, eighth in Ligue 1 and believe Botman remains vital to their European ambitions.
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Howe also covets the Burnley centre-half James Tarkowski but, even though Tarkowski could leave Turf Moor for nothing in the summer, Sean Dyche appears adamant he will not countenance weakening his team’s survival chances by selling the 29-year-old to a relegation rival.
With Callum Wilson’s torn calf muscle dictating that Howe is in the market for a centre-forward and a central midfield also on his shopping list, Newcastle hope to welcome a minimum of four signings.
