Newcastle United have been keen to bring Matheus Franca to Tyneside for a while now but reports suggest that another Premier League club may beat them to it.
Eddie Howe still maintains a strong interest in 19-year-old Brazilian wonderkid, Matheus Franca of Flamengo despite being knocked back with several bids in January. However now The Sun and The Daily Mail have claimed that Crystal Palace may be about to land the midfield sensation.
Franca has been described as ‘fantastic‘ by Botofogo owner, John Textor and he also made it onto the NXGN list of the 50 best footballers under 21 years old for 2023.
Newcastle had three bids rejected for Franca in January
His stock is extremely high and it’s little wonder Newcastle made three attempts to sign him in January.
Flamengo have managed to work a staggering £176million release clause into his latest deal, but it’s understood that they could be willing to sell for as little as £30million as long as there’s a hefty percentage sell-on clause included in the deal, believed to be 50 percent!
£30million is still a lot of money for a teenager who’s never played the English game, which is why Crystal Palace are reportedly going in with a bid closer to £20million. Newcastle were rebuffed in January with an initial £11.5million bid, then again at £12million and finally they walked away after their £14million bid was rejected.
I wrote last week that Flamengo were bracing themselves for a fresh bid from Newcastle this summer, but now it seems they may have to move fast if they want to finally land their man with Palace having sent delegates to watch the youngster last week.
The decision where to go looks like it will come down to Franca’s ambition
Palace look assured of Premier League football next season after a tough campaign, and while their manager situation is unclear given that Roy Hodgson was installed on a temporary basis to see out this season, they are already making moves in the transfer market.
Newcastle should be able to swing this one their way, you’d think. Mid-table mediocrity (no offence Palace fans) or Champions League football and possible title contenders? That’s an easy decision for any footballer to make, surely.
Of course it’s not always as simple as that, but on paper this should be an easy deal to do as long as Newcastle are serious and match Crystal Palace’s offer. The main thing that could sway Franca would be that he’d probably be given more assurances of first team football at Palace and would likely have to bide his time at Newcastle.
It all comes down to the youngster’s ambition at the end of the day. Howe definitely likes the player, so he may push hard to make this one happen in the off-season.
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