Sky Sports pundit Danny Higginbotham has been raving about Newcastle United defender Jamaal Lascelles ahead of the Tyneside club’s clash with Chelsea at St James’ Park on Sunday.
Lascelles, 24, has been one of the Magpies’ best players since the club arrived back in the Premier League and according to Sky Sports, he was the subject of a bid worth up to £25million in the summer from West Ham.
And Higginbotham has been left blown away by the progress that Lascelles has made in his time at St James’ Park.
“He leads my example, he’s a strong physical player,” said Higginbotham on Sky Sports News on Thursday morning.
“[When I was with him at Nottingham Forest], the one thing that stood about him is that he wanted to learn.
“He’s grown into that [leader] role at Newcastle and the fans absolutely love him.”
Statistics website Spotrac reports that Lacelles earns £40,000-a-week on his deal at Newcastle.
OPINION
Higginbotham is spot on with his assessment of Lascelles. The 24-year-old is getting better and better with every game he plays and it is no shock that West Ham tried to sign him in the summer transfer window. It would take a colossal bid for Rafa Benitez to even consider cashing in on the former Nottingham Forest player, and probably only top-six clubs would be able to afford to pry him away from Tyneside. Given the fact that Manchester United are struggling defensively and Jose Mourinho was reportedly after a new centre-back in the summer transfer window, there is a potential link there that is bound to be brewed up by one of the papers. For now though, Newcastle fans should just enjoy having Lascelles in the side because he is an absolute credit to the club and hopefully he can keep on impressing the Toon Army and pundits like Higginbotham.