Newcastle may now have to pay closer to £70m to sign ‘top class’ midfielder

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Nicolo Barella’s £50million move to Newcastle United has been the story of the day with media outlets adding their own flavour to each report.

Now the Italian media have got hold of the story and the noises coming Italy aren’t as positive as those that were doing the rounds in England last night.

Last night Newcastle fans bouncing around their sun drenched gardens thinking that Nicolo Barella was Toon-bound after The Telegraph reported that Newcastle had made a £50million bid and talks were underway.

Reports in Italy claim Newcastle will need to bid upwards of £68m for Barella

However, it other reports that came out later, while confirming Newcastle’s interest in Barella, were a bit more cautious saying that no bid had actually been made, the club were just putting together a bid.

Now Calciomercato have put the boot in. Twice. Their report states quite categorically that Barella has no intention of leaving Inter and wants to win the Champions League with his boyhood club after narrowly missing out last season.

They then go on to say that they’ve been told that it would take a bid of around €80million (£68million) Inter just to get Inter to the negotiating table.

It all seemed a bit too good to be true, picking up a player with that much talent and reputation – Jurgen Klopp recently called him ‘top class‘ – for just £50million.

Although stranger things have happened. Inter’s financial woes which were addressed by Andy Brassell on TalkSport last night could be a huge factor. He mentioned that Inter have a £275million debt that needs to be paid next year and selling players would be the easiest way to cut into that debt.

There are a lot of things that could work in Newcastle’s favour on this deal

So while Barella probably doesn’t want to leave Inter, that decision could be taken out of his hands as if he truly loves the club, he may have to move to keep them afloat. Newcastle meanwhile, will use that financial situation to squeeze every last penny out of the deal.

It’s easy to get caught up in all the negative stories that have surfaced saying that the deal is miles away and potentially won’t even happen, but there are still a lot of things in Newcastle’s favour so we’re not out of it yet.

Watch this space.