Newcastle United reportedly leading four-way race for £70m Premier League star

Get ready for another frustrating summer, ladies and gentlemen, as Newcastle United are once again being strongly linked with a move for Crystal Palace defender Marc Guehi.

Newcastle spent far too much time and effort chasing the England centre-back last summer with reports suggesting that the Magpies had bid up to £70 million to get the deal over the line, although this figure has been disputed by Eddie Howe.

Regardless of the actual numbers, the fact is Newcastle spent weeks talking to Crystal Palace who would constantly move the goalposts at the last minute in a bid to keep Newcastle on strings when they had no intention of selling.

It left a bad taste in the mouths of Newcastle fans, many of whom would prefer the club steer well away from Marc Guehi, even though it wasn't technically his fault.

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Get ready for more Guehi stories

Unfortunately, it looks as though Newcastle simply rate him too highly to let Palace have the last laugh and now The Sun are reporting that Newcastle are 'leading the race' for the 24-year-old.

Tottenham, Manchester City, and, do we even need to say it? ... Chelsea, are the other clubs keen to land the England man.

Newcastle's long-established interest puts them at the front of the queue, especially after their weeks of negotiations last season. Surely there's no way we don't know exactly what it would take to get the deal done at this point.

If Crystal Palace don't mess about then we back the deal

Marc Guehi is entering the final year of his Crystal Palace contract which will severely reduce their negotiating power as they won't want to risk losing him for free next summer.

We don't expect the figures to get anywhere near as wild as the reported £70 million that was bandied about last year, but we'd be amazed if a deal gets done below the £45 million mark.

If Crystal Palace play ball in the negotiations this time, then we don't really have an issue with signing Marc Guehi. His form this season hasn't been the best, but it did pick up after a very shaky start, and let's be honest, he's Newcastle's 9th highest goal scorer this season.