Newcastle have £51 million bid for Theo Hernández rejected by AC Milan?

Depending on who you believe, we're either done spending after (hopefully) completing a deal for Harvey Barnes of Leicester City, we're still in the market for Tino Livramento of Southampton and multiple other players after (hopefully) getting Barnes, or we're chucking £50M+ bids at AC Milan for the second time in a month.

That last one is what we're here to discuss, as it has emerged this morning that Newcastle United have supposedly had a £51 million offer rejected for AC Milan's French international left-back Theo Hernández. The source of the information is Gianluca Di Marzio of Sky Sport Italy, who is based out of Milan and quite well-respected in the transfer rumours game.

Di Marzio first reported our supposed interest in Hernández a few weeks ago, when he also claimed that the club was monitoring Federico Chiesa:

If he is to be believed, then things appear to have advanced from there, with a bid north of £50 million being lodged and swiftly rejected by the Rossoneri hierarchy. Whether Newcastle go back in with another offer seems to be up for debate, with Di Marzio simply stating that the club "could", if it "really wants the player", and because NUFC is capable of offering Hernández a substantial pay rise, ala Sandro Tonali. It's reported that Hernández is on around £66,000 per week plus bonuses in Milan.

There's not much substance, to put it politely, but the news comes hot on the heels of Newcastle's reported interest in Federico Dimarco of Inter Milan. The press, on both sides of the channel, has consistently stated that NUFC are in the market for a left-back this summer, though most recent reports here in the UK are again stressing that financial fair play (FFP) means we won't be doing much more business if Barnes arrives.

So, as ever in a transfer window, things appear to be up in the air and it's difficult to know who to believe. If you're braver than us and don't mind being disappointed about not signing a world-class player, here's a Hernández highlight reel to tantalise yourself with:

Hernández describes himself as a "playmaker" from the full-back position and is more heralded for his attacking contributions than his defensive abilities. An exciting dribbler with searing pace and a thunderbolt of a left foot, he counts the recently-sacked Paolo Maldini among his heroes. Standing a little over 6'0", he's 25 years of age, was born in Marseille, France, and has 17 caps for his national side, scoring twice.

In a little NUFC-related quirk, his agent Manuel García Quilón used to represent our former full-back Jesús Gámez before his retirement.