Club start looking to replace their £34m player after claims Newcastle are pushing to sign him

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Newcastle United have been handed a boost in their pursuit of a key transfer target in what has already been a busy summer for the club.

Eddie Howe’s side have been one of the more active Premier League clubs in the early part of the summer transfer window.

There has been a lot of change at St James’ Park during the first month of the transfer window, as Newcastle tried to comply with Premier League Profit and Sustainability Rules.

Newcastle have already brought in John Ruddy, Odysseas Vlachodimos, and Lloyd Kelly and made Lewis Hall’s loan a permanent deal. But there is still expected to be a lot more transfer activity at St James’ Park following the arrival of Paul Mitchell as their new Sporting Director.

Newcastle boosted in attempts to sign £34m target

Newcastle are now said to be pushing to sign Malick Thiaw from AC Milan, with the Germany international possibly available for £34million.

And AC Milan have now lined up a replacement for their 22-year-old centre-back, as reported by La Gazzetta dello Sport.

They claim that the the Serie A side have started planning for Thiaw’s departure and are interested in signing Salzburg defender Strahinja Pavlovic as his replacement.

Should AC Milan firm up their interest in Pavlovic, Newcastle’s pursuit of Thiaw is expected to gather pace in a potential statement signing by Howe’s side.

Newcastle identified positions that required improvement, with centre-back high on the agenda. It is evident that Thiaw is one of the club’s top targets this summer, and wrapping up a deal for the defender will give Newcastle’s hierarchy real confidence for the rest of the window.

Thiaw would increase competition in defence

With both Jamaal Lascelles and Sven Botman suffering ACL injuries, meaning they are likely to miss the start of the new season, a new centre-back is highly sought after by Howe.

The Newcastle manager has already signed Kelly this summer, a player who can operate as a left-back or in the middle of the defence.

However, the club hope to confirm the signing of another centre-back to increase competition in that area of the pitch. Thiaw would add Champions League experience to the squad, a competition Howe is eager to compete in again with Newcastle.

Newcastle’s lack of know-how in the Champions League became an issue for the club last season. Should Thiaw sign for the Magpies he would join his friend and former teammate, Sandro Tonali, at the club, as they look to build a squad that can challenge on all fronts.