Newcastle and Crystal Palace still locked in negotiations over Marc Guehi's value

Newcastle United fans had hoped that the transfer of Marc Guehi from Crystal Palace would have been done by the weekend for an unveiling at St James' Park during the Sela Weekender.

At the start of the week all the news was positive that Newcastle and Palace were working on a deal for England centre-back Marc Guehi and that things would move pretty quickly.

Keith Downie even hinted, albeit with an air of caution, that the deal could be done this weekend. That now looks highly unlikely.

Journalists on X are reporting that the issue is the disparity in the player's valuation.

Newcastle need to negotiate to avoid another PSR disaster

The Daily Mail have claimed that Newcastle's initial bid of £50 million was rejected and that Crystal Palace want £65 million.

It has been fairly public knowledge what Palace's valuation is for a while, but we know how much the Magpies love to haggle - which is understandable given how close the club came to having its fingers burnt by PSR in June.

Journalist Rudi Galetti claims that Newcastle are trying to use Guehi's willingness to move as a negotiating tactic to lower the price. Similarly, Guehi only has two years left on his deal, so if Palace don't do this now, his value will decrease the less time he has to run on his contract.

We just need to wait a little bit longer

It's easy for us as fans to say "Just pay them the money" because we want to see the transfer go through - especially as the longer it drags on, the more chance there is of another club bumping us out of the way, but the truth is the club needs to be frugal to avoid another PSR disaster, and they also can't be seen to be pushovers who pay what the selling club wants when they want it as it will make every future deal harder to do.

Frustration has been the buzzword of the summer and it looks to be lingering around a bit longer, but we've got faith in the club and we believe we'll get this done.

Let's be honest, if it all goes breasts skyward now, that's not a very good look for Paul Mitchell.