Newcastle United will reportedly have to fork out at least £34 million if they are to sign Matheus Nunes from Sporting CP this summer.
According to UOL, the Portugal midfielder have decided to raise their asking price amid interest from English clubs recently.
The report notes that Newcastle were keen on Nunes during the January transfer window.
Nunes has been enjoying a really good campaign so far in 2021/22.
He has been extremely available for Sporting, making a whopping 42 appearances already so far and playing over 3000 minutes.
He’s helping Sporting fight to retain their league title, although at the moment they are six points behind unbeaten league leaders FC Porto.
Across those 42 appearances, Nunes has scored three goals and made five assists.
He is a player that Newcastle have actually tracked for quite a while.
There were reports of interest from the Magpies back in January 2021, which was obviously many months before the takeover.
Apparently the club wanted to sign Nunes on loan.
Seemingly, he is still someone the club would like to bring in, but he would not come cheap.
Apparently Sporting want at last £34 million – considerably more than the £17 million valuation he had back in the summer of 2021.
A lot to pay for Newcastle, but Nunes is a talent
Newcastle obviously have a lot of cash to burn now. But it will be important for the club to be measured in their first summer window since the takeover.
Having said that, Nunes is a really talented player.
It was a only last month that Pep Guardiola actually labelled Nunes one of the best players in the world at the time.
Perhaps that was slight hyperbole, but he has clearly been playing extremely to prompt such comments from an elite manager.
He could make a good signing for Newcastle – potentially, he’d link up well with Portuguese speakers Bruno Guimaraes and Joelinton.
Receive a digest of our best Newcastle content each week direct to your mailbox
