Newcastle now told to pay £38m up front to sign 21-year-old centre-back this summer

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The search for a defender continues for Newcastle United and they have now turned their attention back to Sporting CP’s Goncalo Inacio.

The 21-year-old defender has been on Newcastle‘s radar for a while now and other Premier League clubs have joined the Magpies in their interest according to a report in AS.

Arsenal and Liverpool both also have their eye on Goncalo Inacio who made 52 appearances for Sporting last season, being involved in all but one of their fixtures. Inacio even racked up seven goal contributions in the form of four goals and three assists.

Goncalo Inacio turned down a move to Newcastle last summer

Inacio’s performances last season saw him called up to the Portugal international seniors where he made debut in March.

Newcastle tried to land Inacio last summer lodging a £25million bid, but he had no interest in the move, insisting he wanted to stay and win the league with Sporting – they would ultimately finish fourth.

Liverpool expressed their interest in Inacio back in January and are tipped to make their move this summer.

The Magpies continued to make their interest known earlier this year with reports in April saying Sporting had “received constant ‘harrassment’ from Newcastle regarding the availability of the 21-year-old.”

If Newcastle want to try again this summer and now know what it will take to get Sporting to pay attention.

The Portuguese club have placed a €40million (£38.8million) price tag on Inacio and are insisting that any bid would have to be on the basis that the money is paid up front in one go.

FFP could make this move very tricky for Newcastle

Sporting are notoriously hard negotiators and when it comes to them laying down terms like that, it’s unlikely they mean anything other than exactly what they said. So if Newcastle want to sign Inacio this summer they will have to take a big hit on their budget.

It’s with that in mind that I can see Newcastle moving on to other targets. As good at negotiating as Sporting’s board are, the Newcastle board can give them a good run for their money. We’ve seen many times already that we won’t spent a penny more than what we feel the deal is worth, and given the constraints of FFP, we’re not likely to change that stance any time soon.

One day in the future when the club is a money-making machine we might see Newcastle being more frivolous, but for now every penny counts and £38.8million in one chunk just doesn’t seem like a sensible move.