'100%': Former Crystal Palace forward believes Newcastle will make top signing this week

While Newcastle United fans' hope dwindles, journalists and pundits still believe that Marc Guehi will be a Magpie come next week.

Marc Guehi is playing for Crystal Palace against West Ham on Saturday, wearing the captain's armband to boot.

It's a move by Palace that heavily hints that a deal is still no closer to being done as they continue to play their star defender.

However, journalists and pundits have remained convinced that Guehi will get his move over the line before Friday's deadline.

Clinton Morrison has made a bold claim over Marc Guehi

Former Palace striker Clinton Morrison is the latest pundit to add his voice to the chorus saying on Sky Sports that believes 100% that Guehi will move to Newcastle.

“He will be at Newcastle next week, 100%.

“Marc Guehi will be a Newcastle player next week. I think it will happen. It will definitely happen. That’s my opinion – 100% it will happen. They’re not miles apart.

“That’s Eddie Howe’s No.1 target, he didn’t have anyone else in mind. He said to his board, ‘go and get Marc Guehi’. He’s got two years left at Palace. To try and get something like £70m for Marc Guehi, I think he’d be fantastic.”

Newcastle don't look to be ready to walk away

We want to believe that because of his Palace connections, he's got some insider info, but it's clearly just an educated guess by Morrison.

As much as our confidence is fading, we're still fairly sure that the deal will be done. It doesn't look like Newcastle have any real intention of walking away from the deal.

All this talk of other targets definitely feels like a play to try and move Palace's hand, but to be fair to them, they've played a blinder with this one.