Newcastle transfer news: Toon interested in Tottenham’s Harry Winks

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Newcastle United are reportedly interested in signing Harry Winks from Tottenham.

That’s according to the Daily Mail, who claim the Magpies and Southampton have ‘expressed early interest’ in the 26-year-old.

Winks is set to leave Tottenham this summer, who secured Champions League qualification on the final day of the season.

They’re going to be playing in Europe’s top competition without one of their homegrown stars. However, Antonio Conte’s decision could benefit Eddie Howe.

Newcastle would have to pay as much as £25m for Harry Winks

The report adds that Tottenham want a fee between £20million and £25million for Winks.

That kind of money would make him one of Newcastle’s most expensive signings ever. However, it wouldn’t eclipse PIF’s January deal for Bruno Guimaraes. That could end up costing us £42million.

The Magpies are in the market for another centre-midfielder, and are going to have to spend big if they want to bring Winks to St James’ Park.

However, he could already be a Newcastle player had things gone differently.

Magpies have been interested in Winks before

Winks was actually linked with a move to St James’ Park in January. That should come as no surprise given we were linked with every player under the sun following the takeover.

The England international was named as a ‘prime target’ for Howe, who wanted to add more creativity to his midfield. He was eventually able to do that with the addition of Bruno, who is the signing of the season according to Callum Wilson.

A move to the North East wasn’t forthcoming for Winks, which made it the second transfer window in a row he failed to secure a transfer to Newcastle.

The Magpies were desperate for reinforcements last summer, and were offered the chance to sign Winks on loan. However, Newcastle turned it down as they couldn’t afford him. It summed up the miserable Mike Ashley era.

Fast forward almost 12 months and everything has changed. The days of not being able to, or not wanting to, afford loan deals are over.

Last summer was desperate for Newcastle, but this one is full of optimism and excitement.

Winks is a target again, but it feels like for the third window in a row he’ll fail to complete a move to the Magpies. He’s a good player, but probably not what we need right now.