Newcastle United are preparing a bid for Genoa defender Koray Gunter in January, according to Calciomercato.
The Italian outlet claim that the Magpies are set to offer £8.9 million for the 25-year-old centre-back, who is currently on-loan at Hellas Verona, who have a reported clause to make his move permanent in the summer.
Calciomercato report that Newcastle are readying a January move for the German youth international after being impressed in a recent scouting mission where the enforcer kept a clean-sheet in a 0-0 draw against Udinese.
Gunter only made eight starts for Genoa last season and has already made four for Verona at the beginning of this Serie A campaign.
OPINION
It is hard to see where another defender would fit in at Newcastle if he was to arrive at St James’ Park in January. There are nine other teams in the Premier League that have conceded more goals so it is not exactly the area they need to strengthen. With Ciaran Clark and Federico Fernandez warming the bench for the Magpies, Gunter would come in and instantly force one of those current players out of the squad. The German may have impressed scouts, but it is a pointless move right now by Bruce. The 25-year-old has only averaged a single tackle per game according to WhoScored, and only 0.6 interceptions in each outing – stats that prove that he isn’t exactly averaging groundbreaking numbers that demand Newcastle must go out and make sure that they secure his services in the winter transfer market, and the Magpies must bear in mind what they currently have at the club and stop any potential plans for Gunter.
