With Newcastle United’s approach for Crystal Palace defender Marc Guehi seemingly hitting the rocks, the club have been advised to ‘step away’ from negotiations.
The Magpies have seen a third bid rejected for the England international — who starred for the Three Lions in their run to the Euro 2024 final this summer — with Palace understood to want a full £60m fee paid upfront.
Of course, centre-back is not the only position Eddie Howe is looking to strengthen this summer, with his squad desperately light on wingers — a situation that could get even worse with Miguel Almiron linked with an exit and rumours regarding Anthony Gordon’s switch to Liverpool not going away.
With that in mind, Newcastle must budget carefully, especially given the precarious position they’ve found themselves in recently when it comes to PSR.
Keown urges Newcastle to ‘step away’ from Guehi negotiations
Former Arsenal and Everton centre-back Martin Keown has warned Newcastle to ‘step away’ from their battle to sign Guehi.
Keown believes there is only so far the club can go in their pursuit of any player and that the time has come to move on.
“I do think he’s a very good player,” Keown said on talkSPORT, adding: “(But) I think there are limits. And I’m just wondering, this bravado – you know, there’s going to have to be a limit to what they can pay.
“I think they should step away at this point.”
Speaking with former Crystal Palace chairman Simon Jordan — who, incidentally, believes Guehi would be worth every penny to Newcastle — Keown later stated that the numbers just don’t add up for the Magpies.
“I think they’ve got an abundance of defenders there. I mean, they took Lloyd Kelly in there from Bournemouth, who might just be a little diamond that they could unearth,” said Keown.
“I wonder if that’s why Eddie was bringing him in. Maybe he’s seen now he’s not quite in pre-season what he thought. So he wants Guehi to come in instead. And it’s an ageing defence, maybe. And he wants to make some changes.
“But I would have thought, you know, there was talk of Isak having to leave the football club to fulfil the Financial Fair Play details.
“And now they’re paying £65 million for a defender. So that feels really odd.”