Ring my Bel, urges Italian
FREE AGENT OFFERED TO CLUB WITH RIVALS ALSO INTERESTED
NEWCASTLE have reportedly been offered Italy striker Andrea Belotti, who is currently a free agent.
The 28-year-old left Torino at the end of last season and is on the hunt for a new club.
His agent has touted his services to the Magpies as well as a number of other European clubs.
West Ham and Everton are the other two Premier League sides to have been offered Belotti, who scored a penalty in the Euro 2020 final shoot-out win over England.
The Hammers are keen on strengthening up front and have also been heavily linked with Chelsea striker Armando Broja this summer.
This weekend, however, they agreed a £30.5million fee with Serie A side Sassuolo for another Italy striker Gianluca Scamacca.
Everton are looking at costeffective replacements for Richarlison, who left for Tottenham in a £60million move to ease the club’s Financial Fair Play problems.
Belotti ( right) enjoyed an excellent spell at Torino, netting 113 goals in 251 appearances for the Serie A side.
His most impressive domestic campaign saw him bag a whopping 26 goals in 35 games during the 2016/17 league season.
He scored more than 10 goals in all of his Serie A seasons for Torino except the last one as injuries restricted his game-time, though he still found the net eight times.
Belotti has won 44 caps for Italy and his arrival would end Newcastle’s search for a forward to rival Callum Wilson and Chris Wood for a starting role. Meanwhile, Newcastle are reported to have made an enquiry for Paris St Germain’s out-of-favour attacker Julian Draxler, LEE RYDER writes.
The left winger, who is valued between £17million and £25million, has not been selected for the Parisians’ preseason tour of Japan and is available for transfer.
The Germany international ( inset) played 18 times last season, scoring twice, but has found starting opportunities hard to come by. Draxler’s job to get into the PSG side has been made even harder with the arrival of former United target Hugo Ekitike, who joined the Ligue 1 champions after snubbing the Magpies earlier this summer.
Former Schalke and Wolfsburg star Draxler’s agents ROGON Group also represent Newcastle star Joelinton and the club’s recruitment chief Steve Nickson has close ties to the organisation. Eddie Howe is eager to sign a wide man but has already seen United priced out of moves for Bayer Leverkusen’s French star Moussa Diaby and Leeds United star Jack Harrison this summer. Head coach Howe, speaking on Newcastle’s mini European tour this summer, said: “We are now going into an area where we are still looking. We want to improve the squad.
“We are really pleased with what we have done but we know we have more to do. It has to be the right one, in the right position. So it is not simple.”