Newcastle look to hijack Liverpool’s £15m bid

Transfer news coming in from the Mirror this morning that Liverpool are on the verge of signing Willian from Anzhi for £15 million, but that Newcastle United will make a late bid to hijack the transfer of the Brazilian international.

Newcastle begin their 2013/14 Premier League season against Manchester City at the Eithad Stadium on Monday and Joe Kinnear is thought to be keen to resume talks with the 25-year-old prior to that match.

Willian is one of those players who seems to have been linked with a move to English football for a long time, with Tottenham Hotspur that first club to have been credited with an interest, while the Reds have taken up the lead this summer.

Newcastle came up against Anzhi in the Europa League season, but Willian was missing through injury following his 35 million Euros move to Russia from Shakhtar Donetsk in January.

Willian is the second Anzhi player that Newcastle have been linked with this summer, with the Russian club looking to drastically slash their wage bill, as the other was the somewhat surprising supposed interest in Samuel Eto’o.

£15m would be a very good price for a player who cost twice that six months ago and the attacking midfielder, who has won two international caps for Brazil, is a player of undoubted talent.

However, given Newcastle’s current standing in English football and a move for a striker being of a higher priority, a transfer to Liverpool looks much more likely.