Newcastle United are in pole position to sign Lyon striker Jean-Philippe Mateta, who has spent the last season on loan at Le Havre, according to Team Talk.
The football website reports that the 6″3 (source: Transfermarkt) French ace has alerted the interest of several English clubs since returning to Lyon from loan, but United are leading the race to land the 20-year-old’s signature.
The lethal finisher made his first-team debut for the French outfit – who finished third in Ligue 1 in the last campaign – in 2016 at the age of 18, and he is said to be eager to play football for Newcastle in the Premier League next term.
Good move for Newcastle?
Mateta has netted an impressive 19 goals in 37 appearances in France during the 2017/2018 campaign and it is no wonder Benitez is interested in bringing his services to St James’ Park.
He is only 20 and already scoring goals for fun, so it will be interesting to see how he progresses – and how he gets on in the Premier League, should he move.
Scoring goals in France’s second tier will be a whole different world to scoring goals in the Premier League, but with regular first-team football, he should be just fine.
This is Futbol rating: 7.5/10
Likely to happen?
Seeming as Newcastle are leading the pack in a bid to sign him, then they should negotiate the transfer fairly quickly, providing no other club attempts to hijack the deal.
Mateta has already made it clear that he wants to move, so it is the perfect opportunity for both parties to get the ball rolling in regards to his transfer.
Let’s hope it is not just another name in a long list of targets that Newcastle have been linked to, and that the link is able to materialise this time.
This is Futbol rating: 8/10