Newcastle United could reportedly face late competition from Chelsea in order to sign one of Eddie Howe’s priority targets in the coming weeks.
Having failed to qualify for European football for next season, Howe and his team will be acutely aware of Newcastle’s need to improve.
It seems as if both Alexander Isak and Bruno Guimaraes have been convinced to remain on Tyneside this summer, two huge coups for the club.
But in order to keep their star duo in the long-term, both will want to see sufficient progress and ambition at Newcastle, forging the belief that the club can regularly compete for trophies.
Of course, a good starting point in that regard will be attacking the summer transfer window, when Newcastle should be able to spend once again.
And whilst the club need to raise funds from player sales before June 30 to ease PSR concerns, they will then be able to strengthen their squad.
Perhaps Yankuba Minteh’s proposed move to Everton could do the job in that regard, and in turn could even see Dominic Calvert-Lewin arrive on Tyneside.
Newcastle told Chelsea are ‘one to watch’ in Dominic Calvert-Lewin race
Newcastle have been told that Calvert-Lewin will cost £37m this summer, perhaps a reasonable sum from their perspective for a strong, homegrown talent.
And although it looks like Howe’s side will enjoy a fairly uncontested run at the signing right now, journalist Paul Brown thinks Chelsea may still get involved.
Brown shared his update on X at the weekend, stating that Chelsea were still ‘one to watch’.
He explained: “Newcastle talks re Calvert-Lewin have been going on for some time.
“I wrote about their interest, and confidence in signing him, weeks ago.
“But Chelsea are one to watch here also. Interested but yet to take it further so far. A sale before June 30 makes sense for Everton.”
Chelsea have been linked with a host of strikers this summer, seemingly hoping to find better support for Nicolas Jackson up top.
And whilst Newcastle United appear to be in the driving seat for Calvert-Lewin right now, perhaps they would be well advised to move quickly.
Tosin Adarabioyo eventually chose to join Chelsea instead of Newcastle, despite Howe’s team registering their interest very early on.
All that being said, Elliot Anderson has just made his future plans very clear to Newcastle.