£105m player intimated he would have been willing to join Newcastle earlier this summer

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In Sandro Tonali, Eddie Howe has got the marquee midfielder that he wanted at Newcastle United.

However, the 23-year-old was not the only major midfielder who the Newcastle manager had his eye on.

Before Tonali, there was talk of an ambitious move for Declan Rice. Darren Bent called on the Magpies to bring him to St James’ Park, while the club were keen to hold talks with the then West Ham United captain.

However, talk of a move to Tyneside died down as soon as Arsenal formalised their interest in Rice. They signed the 24-year-old for £105million, which was a British transfer record before Moises Caicedo left Brighton for Chelsea.

There is no way Newcastle would have spent that much money to land Rice, but a new report from the Daily Mail suggests that Toon officials did at least try and tempt him to Tyneside.

Newcastle held transfer talks with Declan Rice

According to the Daily Mail, Newcastle actually did told talks with Rice about leaving West Ham for the Magpies. They state that Howe was really keen to try and find a way to make a deal possible.

In fact, the Daily Mail add that Rice even ‘intimated’ that he would have been keen on joining Newcastle had it not been for the interest from Arsenal.

Instead, he joined the Gunners, while Newcastle brought in Tonali.

There is belief inside Newcastle that Tonali can be just as good as Rice, but they operate in different roles. Signing Rice would have seen him become the Magpies’ number six, allowing Bruno Guimaraes to push higher up the pitch.

Instead, Bruno is continuing in his role from last season but does have the option to dovetail with Tonali, who is enjoying a strong start to life in the Premier League.

The Italian is already a fan favourite on Tyneside and it was a real shock to see him leave AC Milan for Newcastle, but it would have been even more surprising had Rice joined the Magpies instead.