Milan close in on Strahinja Pavlovic which should unlock £33m Newcastle switch

Things are finally starting to move in the right direction as far as Newcastle United getting a transfer deal done are concerned.

The pursuit of 22-year-old defender Malick Thiaw has taken an age but there appears to be light at the end of the tunnel.

It was believed that AC Milan wouldn't sanction the move until they had his replacement through the door and now that Strahinja (not Aleksandar as I said the other day) Pavlovic looks close to completing his move to Milan according to Gazzetta dello Sport (via The Boot Room), that should allow Magpies target Thiaw to finalise his move to Tyneside.

There had been some disagreement over price but we're confident that it won't take too long to sort that out now that the player is free to move.

Follow that plane!

If we want to get completely carried away, our resident plane spotters who become very active in the summer have spotted a plane leaving New York, where AC Milan and Thiaw are currently based, heading to Japan where Newcastle are about to play two friendlies.

A delegation for Thiaw is set to fly to Newcastle to work on the deal while the player is headed out to link up with the squad.

Granted, we're getting all this from a plane spotter, but even a broken clock is right twice a day. It's also not unheard of, Newcastle doing something like this, remember Harvey Barnes' unveiling in the USA last year?

Will the Thiaw move open the floodgates?

Fans need a top signing like Thiaw right now. Things have been moving far too slowly in the transfer market and the longer it drags on the more worrying things we're hearing from Eddie Howe.

Sentimental Eddie has already got his wish of hanging on to Callum Wilson because he's got himself injured, now it looks like he's trying to hang on to Miguel Almiron too.

The longer Newcastle don't make signings, the more likely that is to happen, so hopefully this Malick Thiaw move will open the floodgates.