Jordan Cronin has been speaking on the Loaded Mag YouTube channel about Newcastle United potentially lodging another bid for James Maddison.
At one stage it looked as though Newcastle could have been pulling off one of the biggest coups of the summer when they lodged not one, but two major bids for Maddison, who has been hailed as ‘world class’, with the latter reaching up to £50 million.
However, Leicester City have stood firm on their stance that any bid will have to be around the £60 million mark to even tempt them into a sale of someone who registered 18 goals and 12 assists across all competitions last season.
Cronin believes that a third bid could yet still arrive from Newcastle before the transfer window slams shut.
(1:13:30) “There’s the transfer fee now I think going back to the Harry Maguire deal I think Leicester have always been quite strict with the price tags they never really went below what they’ve demanded for a player so I think they sold Harry Maguire for £80 million and that’s what they wanted.
Should Newcastle pay £60 million for Maddison?
Yes!
No!
“So if James Madison is valued at £60 million are Newcastle going to pay £60 million? I’m not too sure so there might have to be some leeway on the transfer fee on both sides for it to potentially happen.
“But, Newcastle might test the waters and try again with a third bid and those Brendan Rodgers comments are interesting because as you mentioned there Pete, he did say last week that neither player [Maddison or Fofana] were for sale but now the stance has changed, where they actually might have to sell a player or whatever.
“So it’s very much open and we’ll just have to wait to see if a third bid arrives and whether Leicester will potentially change their stance on what’s being a reported £60 million price tag.”
TIF Thoughts on Newcastle’s interest in Maddison…
As mentioned by Cronin, it remains to be seen where or not PIF can firstly afford to splash out £60 million on someone that plays in the centre of midfield, an area that is already well stacked up, and also, where or not Leicester would even be willing sellers at that price.
The Magpies are clearly in need of attacking reinforcements with just Chris Wood and Callum Wilson the only options upfront for Eddie Howe, so it would make sense for that to be the priority position in the remainder of the transfer window, and not splashing out £60 million on Maddison.