Newcastle have been interested in Sven Botman since the Mike Ashley era

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Sven Botman is in the North East ahead of completing his move to Newcastle United.

The Magpies finally made a breakthrough late last week, agreeing a fee with Lille for the defender on Friday night.

AC Milan are out of the race, and Botman is all set to become a Toon player.

It’s a huge signing for Newcastle, and ends what has been a rather prolonged transfer saga. He was a target in January, and negotiations have proven to be tough this summer as well.

However, our interest in the 22-year-old actually extends beyond the PIF era at St James’ Park.

Newcastle were interested in Sven Botman last summer

While he was linked with Newcastle before the Saudi-backed takeover, our interest in Botman doesn’t extend that much further into the past given his age.

The Magpies were first mentioned alongside the defender in the summer of 2021. It was the final transfer window under Mike Ashley’s ownership, and Steve Bruce was desperate for a new centre-back.

Plenty of names were linked such as William Saliba and Kristoffer Ajer, while Botman was another target.

L’Equipe reported in July 2021 that the Dutchman was on Newcastle’s radar, with multiple Premier League clubs tracking the centre-back. Sky Sports added that we had inquired about the youngster.

It was reported by L’Equipe that he would cost £43million, which effectively ended the Magpies’ interest there and then.

Newcastle finished the summer with no money to sign Hamza Choudhury on loan and Steve Bruce bemoaning the lack of transfer activity.

Fast forward a few months and everything changed. New ownership brought new vision and ambition, as well as a change of manager.

But the interest in Botman remained. The only difference is this time we can actually afford him.

Similar to the signing of Bruno Guimaraes, Botman feels like a Steve Nickson signing. The head of recruitment has obviously been identifying players that could suit the club for years, but the club didn’t have the necessary funds.

Now that’s changed and Nickson’s extensive scouting is being put to good use.

Botman is joining Newcastle for £35million, but he could have joined 12 months ago had things gone differently.