Newcastle United looked set to deal a crushing blow to Aston Villa’s transfer plans as the Magpies are in advanced talks with Leicester City over a transfer for in-demand English winger Harvey Barnes.
Newcastle United look set to sign Leicester City’s speedy English left-winger Harvey Barnes. That is according to fresh reports from Daily Telegraph, which says the Magpies are on the verge of agreeing a deal in the region of £35 million with the Foxes for the 25-year-old winger, who himself is keen on a move to St. James’ Park amid interest from Aston Villa.
A Foxes academy product, Barnes has come leaps and bounds since breaking into the first-team picture back in 2018. And he has gone on to make 187 appearances in all competitions, scoring 45 goals with 32 assists.
Despite Leicester’s struggles last season, the 25-year-old was a bright spot and had an impressive individual campaign in which he scored 13 Premier League goals and provided three assists from 40 matches. So he averaged just shy of a goal every three games from wide areas at the King Power Stadium in a down season.
The aforementioned are top numbers from an established Premier League winger. Needless to say, he is a man in demand and is one of the players expected to leave the East Midlands club this summer following relegation to the Championship at the end of last season.
Barnes has two years left on his current deal and is reportedly a subject of interest from Newcastle United, Aston Villa, West Ham United, and Tottenham Hotspur in the current summer transfer window.
However, it appears the Magpies have stolen a march and are set to win the four-way race for his services. Newcastle United’s transfer focus has been elsewhere, securing the £55 million signing of Italian midfielder Sandro Tonali.
They have now stepped up their pursuit of Barnes after identifying the English attacker as Eddie Howe’s top attacking target. And Newcastle United are closing in on an exciting capture, with a formal bid set to arrive in the coming days.
The Telegraph adds that Leicester’s previous asking price of around £60 million put the Toon off last summer. It is thought they are now willing to facilitate a deal around the £40 million mark. But Newcastle’s recruitment team believes they can drive a hard bargain and strike a deal around the £35 million ballpark.
This revelation comes as yet another transfer blow to Aston Villa, who have been desperate to sign a high-quality winger to provide competition to the existing options this summer after extensive links with the likes of Nico Williams, Barnes, and Marco Asensio in recent weeks.
The Independent also claimed Aston Villa were the front-runners in the transfer war to sign the English winger. But it appears Newcastle had overtaken them. The one-capped England international is thought to be keen on a move to St. James’ Park and unlikely to have his head turned by any other proposals as he wants to compete in the Champions League next season.
