A report has emerged linking Newcastle United with an interest in 19-year-old AZ Alkmaar left-back Milos Kerkez but the Magpies may face competition from another Premier League side.
Hungarian international left-back Milos Kerkez has caught the eye of several English clubs after performing well for Dutch side AZ Alkmaar.
Newcastle, Leeds and Leicester have all looked at Kerkez recently but according to The Mail it’s Bournemouth who lead the race for the £20million defender and it’s claimed that talks are already underway, although Benfica have a strong interest.
Kerkez is one of the most talented full-backs in Europe according to Alkmaar
The 19-year-old is rated by Alkmaar as one of the most talented full-backs in Europe has already made eight senior caps for Hungary on top of the 52 appearances he made for Alkmaar last season where he also scored five goals.
Newcastle are looking for a new left-back so the link makes sense, although him being just 19 means I wouldn’t see him being thrown into the first team right away at Newcastle. That is in spite of him being a first-team regular at Alkmaar and a full international.
With him coming from a different league Eddie Howe wouldn’t just push him straight in at the deep-end. He didn’t do that with Anthony Gordon and he came from a Premier League side.
Kerkez doesn’t feel like a Newcastle first-team signing just yet
Bournemouth, however, might be more inclined to offer Kerkez plenty of first-team football next season which could see them ahead of Newcastle in the running.
The Mail also just reported that Newcastle had watched Kerkez last season but doesn’t go into any detail as to when they watched him or what came from it, so maybe our scouts didn’t feel he was up to the standard.
He definitely sounds like a good player and a one for the future, but doesn’t sound like one for now, not for Newcastle anyway.
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