Newcastle United have reportedly made an increased bid to sign Matheus Franca from Flamengo.
That is according to transfer expert Fabrizio Romano, who has reported that the Magpies have tabled an offer worth £17.6million for the 18-year-old Brazilian.
That is £3.6million more than Dan Ashworth’s first offer, that was turned down by Flamengo.
It was previously reported that around £17.6million would be enough to tempt the Brazilian club to sell, but that is seemingly not the case. Romano has stated that Newcastle’s new bid has also been rejected by Vitor Pereira’s side.
He reports that the Magpies have no intention of overpaying for Franca, which has been a common theme at St James’ park since the change of ownership. However, some would argue that they have done just that by spending £45million on Anthony Gordon. Only time will tell if he is truly worth that figure.
But Franca is another young talent that the club are trying to bring to Tyneside, but he is proving difficult to obtain.
Newcastle struggling to sign Matheus Franca
With Newcastle making another bid, it is clear that they are very keen to bring Franca to the North East. And that is something he is interested in too, with 90min recently stating that he is keen to join the Magpies.
However, Flamengo are driving a hard bargain. They do not want to lose the attacking midfielder, and are even less inclined to sell with another one of their young players Joao Gomes set to sign for Wolves.
They will be reluctant to lose two of their top talents, which could mean bad news for Newcastle.
Dan Ashworth may have to reassess this bid in the summer, which is something he has been willing to do in the past. It has happened with Anthony Gordon, who was previously a target at the start of the season. We saw similar with Sven Botman too, although that was before Ashworth began his job as Sporting Director.
But Newcastle have proven that they are willing to wait for the right player, and will not spend just for the sake of it.
The Toon hierarchy clearly believe that Franca has something special, and could go on to become a star in the Premier League. He is incredibly highly rated, and has been linked with the likes of Real Madrid.
But it is Newcastle who appear to be trying hardest to sign him, with a late January bid turned down. The clock is now ticking for the Magpies to increase their offer once more.
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