Newcastle now favourites to sign 'special' Premier League defender - journalist

Newcastle United are now back in pole position to land Fulham's contract rebel Tosin Adarabioyo this summer.

It was originally thought that Adarabioyo would reject Newcastle in order to move to Tottenham this summer after he leaves Fulham when his contract expires.

Now, though, The Sun journalist Alan Nixon has claimed on his Patreon blog that Newcastle have moved ahead in the race for the 26-year-old centre-back.

Newcastle are still also pursuing the free transfer of Bournemouth's Lloyd Kelly which means Eddie Howe could be about to land two Premier League-ready centre-backs with no transfer fee involved.

Newcastle are keen bargain hunters this summer

As the Profit and Sustainability Rules will remain as they are this summer, Newcastle have to find bargains when and where they can, so two defenders on free transfers would be amazing business for the club.

When Nixon was asked on X how confident he was that Newcastle could get the Adarabioyo deal done he simply replied, "Major chance".

That's amazing news given how many top clubs are tracking Adarabioyo ahead of his Fulham departure.

Tosin Adarabioyo underwent groin surgery at the start of this season

Since recovering from groin surgery early in the season Adarabioyo, who was hailed as 'special' by Marco Silva, has gone on to make 25 appearances for Fulham with Sky Sports noting that he has outperformed the current crop of England centre-backs.

It will be interesting to see if that's something Gareth Southgate has noticed and whether he gives him a chance in his final squad before Euro 2024 which we will see in action at St James' Park in June.

Should he get the nod, Newcastle will have to move fast to snap him up before he heads to the Euros and gains even more interested parties.