The rumour surrounding Newcastle United making an offer to sign Youssoufa Moukoko is continuing to swirl, with a new claim from Germany stating how much money the Magpies put on the table for the 18-year-old.
Moukoko’s Borussia Dortmund contract is set to expire in the summer, leading to speculation over a move away from the Bundesliga side at the end of the season.
Newcastle were linked shortly after the World Cup, and the Evening Standard claimed on Tuesday morning that discussions between Moukoko and the Magpies over a £150,000-a-week move to St James’ Park had taken place.
Now Patrick Berger, the chief reporter at German outlet SPORT1, has provided some more information on Newcastle’s ‘verbal offer’ for one of the highest rated young players on the planet today.
Newcastle offer Moukoko huge signing on fee
Berger has backed up the Evening Standard’s claim about Newcastle’s ‘verbal offer’ to Moukoko. He has posted on Twitter that the Magpies offered the striker a salary worth almost £8million-a-year, which works out at just more than £150,000-a-week.
That is a huge wage packet for anyone – never mind a player that only turned 18 in November. But that isn’t the only financial incentive that Newcastle put on the table for Moukoko.
The SPORT1 reporter adds that the Magpies also offered him a signing-on fee of £26.5million.
This just proves that the tag ‘free transfer’ means nothing nowadays. Having saved money on a transfer fee, clubs are now expected to hand out huge signing-on fees to the player – effectively the money they would have paid as a transfer fee.
A signing-on fee of £26.5million is a staggering amount. That is more than we paid Burnley for Chris Wood.
Such a lucrative offer proves that Newcastle are really keen to bring Moukoko to St James’ Park. That is not a surprise, as he is tipped to become one of the next big stars in world football.
He is already excelling at Dortmund, where he has 10 goal contributions in 14 appearances this season. He’s got the seal of approval from Erling Haaland, who believes his former teammate is ‘amazing‘.
Newcastle want to bring the ‘amazing’ Moukoko to the Premier League, and are prepared to commit a huge financial amount to make a deal possible. However, it might not be that simple.
Berger believes that Moukoko actually wants to stay at Dortmund, and is set for a fresh round of contract talks with the German club.
If he does agree a new Dortmund contract in the coming weeks, there will certainly be an argument that Newcastle have merely been used for leverage. But until that moment, there remains hope that he could come to Tyneside in 2023.
Receive a digest of our best Newcastle content each week direct to your mailbox
