New report suggests Newcastle's valuation of Malick Thiaw is way below what AC Milan want

Earlier today we reported that Newcastle United were working on a £25million deal for AC Milan defender Malick Thiaw.

It was a report that had us in the NUFCfeed offices buzzing as we looked set to land ourselves an absolute bargain.

Well, it now seems that Milan have our offices bugged as a new report coming from Corriere dello Sport (via Milan News) has claimed that the figure Newcastle intend to offer Milan will be significantly higher than £25million but still won't be seen as enough by the Italian club.

Corriere dello Sport believe Newcastle's initial approach will be for around €40million (£33.8million) but they expect Milan will hold out for more.

AC Milan

Milan are under no pressure to sell Malick Thiaw this summer

Milan are in no rush to sell Thiaw and could still aim to hold on to the 22-year-old this summer who is contracted to the Rossoneri until 2027.

However, the initial report this morning did hint at a determination by Newcastle to land the three-times capped German international.

The Magpies will not want to blow too much of their budget on a defender, though, with a right-winger and a striker also needed and likely to eat up a huge chunk of the budget.

We've got our fingers crossed that Newcastle can get this deal done

That being said, Thiaw's potential is very exciting and we definitely won't be too mad if the club end up spending more than they had planned to get the deal over the line.

We say that in spite of reports suggesting that Milan weren't 100% convinced by the defender last season.

He's still very young, especially in terms of defenders who, like goalkeepers, tend to peak later in their career. Look at Fabian Schar, it feels like he didn't peak until he passed 30, so with bags of potential and a long career ahead of him, we've got our fingers crossed that Malick Thiaw will be a Magpie come August.