Newcastle United have launched an offer in excess of £9million to sign AC Milan and former Sunderland striker Fabio Borini, according to TuttoMercatoWeb.
The Italian news outlet claim on their website that the Serie A giants have received two bids for the ex-Liverpool and Sunderland hitman from both the Magpies and Chinese outfit Shenzen, with the valuation on his said said to be between £9million and £10.7million (€10-12million).
The 27-year-old has struggled for game time at the San Siro this season with just six starts in 11 appearances, while he has only 16 goals in 111 appearances in the Premier League.
Opinion
Not the sort of striker hunt that the Newcastle fans want to hear about, not least because of his history with fierce rivals Sunderland. Forgetting about his time at the Stadium of Light, his record in England has been atrocious and having moved back to Italy he has struggled to show any signs of changing that perception. Why Newcastle boss Rafael Benitez believes the Italian has anything more to offer than the likes of Salomon Rondon or Joselu remains to be seen but it is hardly the sort of signing that is going to get St James’ Park on their feet. This is probably one that the Toon Army hope remains as speculation rather than coming to fruition – but as they say, there is no smoke without fire and there has to be some sort of basis for these rumours coming out of Italy. What will come of it? Only time will tell.