Newcastle transfer news: Lille increase Sven Botman asking price

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Newcastle may have to break their transfer record amid fresh claims about Lille’s asking price for Sven Botman.

The Dutch defender has been heavily linked with a move to St James’ Park in January, as Eddie Howe looks to improve the weakest defence in the Premier League.

Botman is an ambitious target, but there have been claims that he is intrigued by the new project at Newcastle following last year’s Saudi-backed takeover.

But doing business with Lille might be tricky.

£60m asking price for Sven Botman

According to Sky Sports’ Dharmesh Sheth (Jan 3rd, 5.24pm), Botman is Newcastle’s ‘number one’ target, which has also been claimed by numerous outlets.

However, Sheth states that Lille don’t want to sell one of their biggest stars. In fact, he claims that it would take an offer of £60million to prize him away from the Ligue 1 side.

That means Newcastle will need to smash their transfer record to sign Botman.

The current record is the £40million spent on Joelinton back in July 2019. 29 months later, and Newcastle’s newfound wealth means surpassing that fee is a real possibility. But will it happen in January?

Is Botman worth that much to Newcastle?

Newcastle’s defensive woes are no secret. We’ve continued to ship goals under Howe, with individual errors seriously costing us.

That’s why the Magpies want to sign Botman, who is one of the highest rated young defenders in Europe today. He’d be a signing for the present and the future.

But perhaps this is a deal Newcastle should revisit later in the window. Howe needs more than one centre-back this month, so should move onto another target for now.

However, that doesn’t mean we should avoid the Netherlands Under-21 international. He is still a player who could be extremely valuable, especially when you consider the other clubs who have been chasing his signature.

Newcastle could lay down a real marker if they sign Botman. But Lille’s asking price should perhaps force PIF and co to step back and return at a later date.

Once a few signings are in and we know how much money we’ve realistically got to play with, then we should consider a fresh and potentially record breaking approach for Botman.