Newcastle United are involved in a six team tug of war for Monaco playmaker Rony Lopes, according to L’Equipe via Mercato365.
The French outlet claims that the Magpies hold an interest in the former Premier League champion, who is expected to leave the French heavyweights this summer.
With Everton winger Henry Onyekuru expected to arrive on the principality, Lopes is being lined up for an exit, with a price tag of between £22.8-27million slapped on him.
Spanish giants Sevilla and Valencia are thought to be in the hunt, along with Italian outfit Roma, while Newcastle’s Premier League rivals West Ham United are Everton are also sniffing around.
OPINION
People forget, but Lopes was an extremely exciting youngster when he was first emerging at Manchester City. He did grab a league title, but had minimal involvement and eventually left for Monaco in 2015. He was highly rated at the Etihad Stadium, though, and has performed well over several loan spells with Lille in Ligue 1. However, he’s not quite had the same impact under Leonardo Jardim, and so he is seemingly getting his marching orders this summer to make way for Onyekuru. However, Newcastle are a team who could always use an extra injection of creativity. There’s not much of it at the club behind Miguel Almiron and new signing Allan Saint-Maximin. Having said that, head coach Steve Bruce has plenty of other holes he still needs to fill at St James’ Park, including two new full backs and another attacker. With that said, perhaps this isn’t the most pressing potential signing.
