Newcastle United are to battle it out with a host of clubs to land the signature of midfielder Harry Arter from Bournemouth, according to the Sun.
The newspaper reports on its website that the Magpies face a fierce battle with the likes of Cardiff City, Stoke and Middlesbrough to land the services the 5″10 [Transfermarkt] enforcer, who is open to leaving the South Coast club to seek out regular game time.
He is unlikely to feature much next season after Bournemouth signed Jefferson Lerma in a club-record deal.
United, as well as the other interested clubs, are prepared to pay the £10million+ price tag in order to snap up the 28-year-old – who is on £40,000 a week [Spotrac] – with only 13 Premier League appearances to his name last season.
OPINION
Newcastle’s midfield could do with an extra pair of legs in midfield, but they do not have much time left to pursue Arter further. Another obstacle in their way is that a trio of other clubs are also after him, which will make things a lot harder as deadline day approaches. The likelihood of Newcastle landing Arter at the moment is slim unless they go straight in with a bid, as the more they wait, the more likely it is that one of the other clubs will have a bid accepted. Arter is falling down the pecking order at Bournemouth especially now they have signed Jefferson Lerma, so now could not be a better opportunity to snap the Republic of Ireland international up right from under the noses their rivals. Newcastle finished in tenth place last term, so the lure of potential top ten football may be enough to convince Arter to join the ranks – it does not seem likely that he would opt to join one of the two teams in the Championship instead. There is one day left to wrap up a potential deal, and it is hard to tell how this situation will play out.
