Newcastle have been told they must pay £31m to land the ‘new Luka Modric’ this summer

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Rennes have told Newcastle United that they will have to activate the release clause of Croatian midfielder Lovro Majer if they want to sign him this summer.

A report from Footmercato in France has linked Newcastle with a move for the 25-year-old midfielder, dubbed the new Luka Modric in his homeland.

Currently playing for Ligue 1 side, Rennes, Majer wowed Rennes fans with this ability in his first season. Ligue 1 fans were impressed by his ablity to play key-passes, providing nine assists in 36 matches. He also racked up six goals in that same amount of time showing that he also knows where the goal is. Those stats set him out as one of the most creative midfielders in Ligue 1 in the 2021/22 season.

Majer’s form has dipped after Rennes blocked a move to Atletico Madrid

Since then, however, he’s apparently gone off the boil. By the sounds of it he had his head turned by Atletico Madrid and when Rennes blocked the move in the summer it seemed to dampen his spirits. Despite not being at full tilt in Ligue 1, he did have a decent World Cup, helping Croatia to a third-place finish.

Rennes boss, Bruno Genesio who has since dropped Majer from the starting XI spoke of his dip in form saying: “I regularly speak with him, and he too has difficulty explaining it. There is nothing in particular that could make him less good, neither personally, nor professionally, nor with the group, nor in what can be extra-sporting. It’s up to us to surround him, to help him, to find the Lovro we knew, because we need him”.

This season, Majer has made 27 appearances for Rennes, scoring once and providing three assists, which still aren’t bad figures all things considered.

Newcastle must feel they can get the best out of Majer again

Newcastle don’t appear to be too put off by his slump and have made contact with Rennes about a potential summer move. Rennes told the Magpies that Majer has a £31million release clause that Newcastle must activate. It’s thought that, despite the player’s unhappiness at the club, Rennes would be unwilling to negotiate on the price due to the hefty sell-on clause inserted into the deal form his £10million move from Dinamo Zagreb.

I’m leaning on the form is temporary, class is permanent cliché for this one. It sounds like there’s definitely a good player in Majer, but after being let down by Rennes he’s struggled to lift his spirits and his form as suffered.

Provided Newcastle made him an offer he was happy with and he saw the move to Tyneside has equal to or greater than that of Atletico, then he could regain his spark and we’d see first-hand why he’s been likened to Modric.