Newcastle United could be about to let Brazilian wonderkid Matheus Franca slip away as Crystal Palace lodge a formal bid for the 19-year-old.
Matheus Franca has been on Newcastle‘s radar for a while now and it recently looked like Chelsea were going to be the club to pip the Magpies to the post, but now Fabrizio Romano has taken to Twitter to suggest that Crystal Palace could be his surprise destination.
Back in May it was said that Newcastle promised to return with another bid for Franca after failing to land him in January, but so far there have been no reports of an approach.
Flamengo moved to put a whopping release clause in Franca’s contract
Missing out on Franca in January allowed Flamengo to tie him down to a new contract and insert a £174million release clause into his new deal.
Obviously Flamengo aren’t demanding anybody activate that clause but it has given them plenty of wiggle room when it comes to negotiations which is why Chelsea have apparently backed away as the Brazilian side were standing firm on their £21million asking price.
Whether Newcastle fulfil their promise of a return bid remains to be seen but right now, according to Fabrizio Romano it’s Crystal Palace who hold an unlikely lead in the chase for the 19-year-old’s signature.
Newcastle may have already moved on to finding the next gem
Franca is definitely an exciting talent having been listed on the NXGN‘s list of best Wonderkids in 2022.
With Dan Ashworth‘s army scouting the globe for suitable talent, there may not be as much pressure to bring him in with so many other hidden gems out there waiting to be discovered.
I’d definitely like to see Newcastle try and sign Franca but I’ll not lose sleep if we don’t, however it will be interesting to see how he fairs for Crystal Palace if that’s where he ends up.
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