Manchester City ready to break £50m barrier to sign Newcastle United full-back - journalist
Newcastle United are under a lot of pressure in the transfer market right now as Alexander Isak is making waves at the club.
The Sweden international seems to be angling for a move away from the club after a series of broken promises by the Newcastle hierarchy.
One of which is matching the ambition of the players. Newcastle's seeming inability to sign players is having a negative effect on the current squad, and while the message from the club has always been "not for sale" when it comes to the top stars, when a player starts to agitate, sometimes that stance has to soften.
Now, it's not just Isak who is being tracked by 'bigger' clubs, as Graeme Bailey has told TBR Football that Manchester City have returned for another crack at Tino Livramento.
Manchester City remain very keen on Tino Livramento
Tino has grown into an indispensable first-team player in his short time at Newcastle. He has broken into the senior England team, while he was also critical of England's U21 European Championship success this summer.
Manchester City have been showing an interest for weeks as Pep Guardiola looks for a replacement for Kyle Walker, who has now joined Burnley.
Newcastle have previously waved away an approach by City in which they said they were prepared to offer £40 million, and now, they are said to have told Newcastle they are ready to pay in excess of £50 million for the 22-year-old.
How much longer can Eddie Howe put up with this mess, never mind the players?
There's nothing suggesting that Tino is teetering like Isak is, but if the Magpies don't start bringing in some quality additions soon, there's a strong chance that Tino, and likely a few others, will start to get disillusioned with life on Tyneside and could start looking for an exit.
Indeed, that goes for Eddie Howe too, as we feel the gaffer is being massively let down by those above him. Granted, Newcastle haven't had much luck lately with Darren Eales' illness causing him to step down, which in turn removed Paul Mitchell's only real ally, causing him to leave too. Now we have no CEO and no Sporting Director at one of the most critical times of the year.
Announcements are expected soon on both of those fronts, but even then, nothing is going to get fixed overnight. There's a lot of work to be done between now and the end of the season to repair the mood in and around the club, and get things back on track. A couple of good signings would go a long, long way to achieving this, as would fending off interest for our top players.
