Newcastle to make bid for £34m defender in 'coming days if not hours' - Journalist

We could finally about to see some Newcastle United transfer action according to one journalist.

Newcastle's interest in German defender Malick Thiaw has been the source of many a headline this summer, but still a move seems so far away despite claims that a deal was close.

At this point it does feel more like a case of when and not if the AC Milan defender joins Newcastle, but it's always worth bearing in mind the club's flair for misdirection.

However, journalist Ben Jacobs believes that the timeline for Thiaw's move to Newcastle is about to be accelerated with a positive move imminent.

Newcastle are readying a formal offer for Malick Thiaw

Speaking on NUFC Matters Ben Jacobs has said that Newcastle are about to make a move for Malick Thiaw.

“I think with Thiaw. We know it’s a big target as far as Newcastle are concerned, and it’s now at the stage where Newcastle are likely in the coming days if not the coming hours to make their opening formal offer.”

Fingers crossed that Jacobs is right about this as talk of there already being personal terms agreed seem like a lifetime ago now with every day that no signings are made seeming like an eternity.

There's still five weeks to get business done

It is important to remember that there is still a long way to go in this transfer window, some five weeks remain, four weeks until the season starts, so there is plenty of time to do business if the club pick up the pace.

The problem is that the longer we leave it, the less time players have to acclimate themselves to the rigours of Eddie Howe's training which both Lewis Hall and Anthony Gordon have admitted takes a lot of getting used to.

That means the longer we wait to sign someone, the less likely we are to get anything out of them when the season kicks off and we'll end up having a slower start to the season than we'd hoped.