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Newcastle have £15m bid rejected for Alassane Plea

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Image for Newcastle have £15m bid rejected for Alassane Plea

Newcastle United have had a £15m bid rejected for Nice striker Alassane Plea, according to the Times.

It is also reported that they will have to smash their transfer record to sign the former France Under-21 striker.

Newcastle are expected to go back in with a better offer and to hold further talks for the 25-year-old who is “keen” on a move to the north east to work with Benitez.

The Times claim that Newcastle will need to “significantly” better the £17million they paid Real Madrid for Michael Owen in 2005.

OPINION

Newcastle are in desperate need of a striker, but it won’t surprise fans to see that the club have only offered £15million so far for the 5.9ft attacker. A Sky reporter claimed yesterday that Newcastle had had a £27million bid rejected, with West Ham willing to pay that much too. That now seems way wide of the mark, but with other clubs interested and the Nice striker having three years left on his contract, he won’t come cheap. Benitez will be hoping to fund the Plea move through selling Mitrovic to Fulham – a sale that might net him £20million. How much will he be willing to spend on one player this summer? There’s no doubt that Plea is exactly what Newcastle need. He scored 16 goals in 35 Ligue 1 appearances, and added six assists on top. That’s his best season to date and he’s still an unknown quantity outside of France, but there’s a feeling that there are Premier League goals in him. However, as usual, this will all come down to finances. West Ham have got bigger pockets but their priority isn’t a striker at the moment. That might play into Benitez’s hands this summer.

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