Newcastle United

Newcastle United: Insider on long-term interest in striker

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Duncan Castles has been speaking on The Transfer Window podcast about Newcastle United’s long-term interest in international striker Darwin Nunez.

Newcastle and PIF had to drastically change their transfer window plans when first-choice striker Callum Wilson went off injured just before January, with Chris Wood arriving on Tyneside in recent weeks.

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However, after the New Zealand international failed to register a shot on target during his debut against Watford, it appears that Newcastle’s desire to improve their frontline has not gone away, with both Duvan Zapata and Darwin Nunez linked with a move this month.

Castles has revealed that the latter is a long-term target of the Toon’s head of recruitment, Steve Nickson.

“Newcastle’s interest in Nunez is long-standing, I can tell you that Steve Nickson, the head of recruitment, attended the Benfica-Bayern game on October 20th in the Champions League. He spoke directly to Rui Costa, asked what the player’s price was, Costa told him at that point he was not for sale.

“And I’m told Nickson said, ‘would €50 million do it?’ and was again rebuffed by Rui Costa, but again, this is a deal, that if Newcastle go high enough on the transfer fee, the expectation is they’ll get the player in.”

TIF Thoughts on Nunez…

The Uruguayan striker arrived only last summer at Benfica, but after a stunning start to this campaign with 14 league goals, the Magpies have peered their head and look to be very much interested in adding him to their squad as a younger striker that could lead the line for years to come.

With Castles claiming that €50 million (£41.8m) was rebuffed towards the end of last year, it remains unclear how much his valuation would be now, but if deals for Sven Botman and Diego Carlos are anything to go by, Benfica will likely be adding something onto the end of any valuation.

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