Newcastle United are in talks to secure the signing of a new striker who would smash their current transfer record, according to The Chronicle.
The newspaper claim the Magpie have opened negotiations over a sensational deal for a new centre-forward forward as the selling club hold out for a fee in excess of the £16million spent to bring in England striker Michael Owen back in 2005.
The Chronicle report that Newcastle are hopeful of signing two new players this week as they look to make some inroads into what has been a fallow January window to date.
It is said that the club have failed to rule out a loan move for Everton’s Sandro Ramirez, but he would not be the striker on which Newcastle would break their transfer record.
OPINION
It is a measure of the lack of investment during the penny-pinching Mike Ashley era that Newcastle have the longest-running transfer record, dating back 13 years, of all the 20 Premier League clubs. It is one of football’s worst-kept secrets that the north-east giants are in the market for a new striker, with current senior trio Dwight Gayle, Joselu and Aleksandar Mitrovic scoring just nine goals between them across all competitions this season. A fee of £16million-plus is not the eyeopening number it once was, but Newcastle fans can reflect that a record- breaking swoop for a forward would boost the feeling around the club tenfold following a demoralising few months in which they have suffered the agonising takeover talks come to nothing and seen their team drop down the table as they brace themselves for a second relegation scrap in three years.