After the media led some to believe it was Liverpool who made a power play yesterday, perhaps it was actually Newcastle United.
It remains to be seen what happens with Alexander Isak, who is ‘not for sale’ but clearly the Reds’ No. 1 choice. However, it looks like Newcastle are edging closer to landing Ekitike after 48 hours of twists and turns.
As we reported in the last hour, Sport BILD revealed that Newcastle are pushing hard to land the Frankfurt striker, and Sky Germany have now gone one step further regarding our bid to beat Liverpool to the Frenchman.
Florian Plettenberg, Sky’s chief reporter in Germany, reports that Ekitike’s proposed move to Newcastle is moving closer.
He reveals that ‘significant progress’ has been made following discussions between the player and Newcastle, stating the deal has ‘advanced.’
This suggests an agreement between Ekitike and Newcastle is almost there, with Sky Germany adding that Frankfurt now expect Toon chiefs to launch a second offer for the striker after our €80m bid was rejected yesterday due to the structure of payments not suiting the Bundesliga side.
It was suggested by BILD earlier that we could come forward with a €100m package to push through a deal, although that would be significant increase on our first bid.