· 4 July 2025, 10:00
**Last night, news broke that Newcastle United had submitted an improved offer to Nottingham Forest for Anthony Elanga.**
After an initial bid of £45 million was outright rejected by Forest, the Magpies returned with an improved offer which opened a dialogue, and now the latest offer, believed to be in the region of £55 million looks like it could be the one that finally brings Anthony Elanga to Tyneside.
There's still work to be done as the two clubs thrash out a deal, but all reports are positive, suggesting that things could move quickly.
Newcastle fans are desperate to see some positive transfer news after being starved for the past three windows. Fans were expecting a quicker start this summer, knowing that the money was there and targets were identified, but things haven't gone as expected.
> [](https://twitter.com/MsiDouglas/status/1940876238916407326)
Mark Douglas provided an update about James Trafford too
--------------------------------------------------------
While Craig Hope broke the news of the Elanga breakthrough last night, closely followed by Fabrizio Romano, it was the iPaper's Mark Douglas who added an extra bit of good news to his post on X.
> "🚨 Breakthrough on Anthony Elanga today deal v. welcome (as per @CraigHope\_DM & others)."Still work to be done on deal but Eddie Howe target - £55m is big statement of intent & show of faith in manager's judgement. Looks great fit for how he wants to move the team to the next level.
>
> "Think Trafford gets done soon too..."
Eddie Howe isn't going to have his wish of new faces in time for the first training session granted
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The players return to training on Monday, and Eddie Howe was hoping that a couple of new faces would be joining them for the first session.
That doesn't look very likely unless things accelerate at a rapid pace over the next couple of days, but let's be realistic here, that's not happening.
Anthony Elanga and James Trafford will both be excellent additions to the Newcastle squad and are exactly what we need. However, some fans yearn for a 'marquee signing' to signal their intent, and we get it, a marquee signing wouldn't just send a message to our rivals, but also lets the likes of Alexander Isak and Bruno Guimaraes know that the ambition is still there.