Newcastle could return with a bid for Turkish defender they turned down last summer

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Newcastle United were offered the chance to sign young Turkish defender Merih Demiral last summer but turned down the chance, but now it seems they may try to land the player after all.

Last summer Merih Demiral made his loan move to Atalanta from Juventus a permanent switch, but not before he was reportedly offered to Newcastle. With Dan Ashworth opting not to take Juventus up on their offer, Demiral stayed at Atalanta where he went on to have a fantastic season for the Italian side.

Now it seems that Newcastle have been keeping an eye on Demiral and may return with a bid in the summer. That is according to TuttoJuve in Italy who also claim that Wolverhampton Wanderers also have an interest in the 25-year-old.

Atalanta will be looking to make a profit on the £17m they spent last summer

Demiral signed for Atalanta for around £17million and TuttoJuve have said that they’d be looking to make a profit on any sale, especially given that 10% of that goes to Juventus as part of the deal struck last summer.

The Turkey international has made 26 Serie A appearances for Atalanta this season, popping up with one goal too. It’s worth noting that he missed the season opener with a knee issue that kept him out of a game again at the turn of the year, so that might be something Newcastle need to keep an eye on.

Demiral might not be the big name many fans are hoping to see come through the door this summer as part of the big spending spree the press have been reporting, but if they can pick him up for a reasonable fee, he looks like he could be a good addition to the squad.

Newcastle could do with more defensive cover and Demiral looks a decent option

At 25 he’s still got plenty of years ahead of him but he’s backed up with experience of winning cup finals, playing in the Champions League and at international level, which isn’t a bad package all in all.

It’s not clear why Newcastle refused to sign Demiral last season, but it’s worth bearing in mind that last summer was when Newcastle’s biggest priority was signing Sven Botman, so perhaps things were beginning to move on that front and they felt that they only had the budget for one centre-back.

Whatever the reason, it clearly wasn’t a complete deal breaker and if this report is correct, we could see some movement on this one in the summer.