Newcastle make move to sign Nketiah and Burn

Newcastle United are closing in on a double signing before the close of the transfer window, with deals for Arsenal striker Eddie Nketiah and Brighton defender Dan Burn likely to end their recruitment this month.

Should the pair join Brazil international Bruno Guimaraes in making permanent moves to Tyneside, it will bring a difficult final week of the window to a successful conclusion for Newcastle’s Saudi Arabian owners.

The new regime at St James’ Park have suffered setbacks recently, but have worked tirelessly to ensure manager Eddie Howe’s squad is far stronger than last month. The club hierarchy had been hoping Manchester United would lower their £16.5million loan-fee demand for Jesse Lingard, but sources admit they have admitted defeat.

The only potential sticking point for Burn is Brighton making unrealistic demands to sell a 29-year-old defender who does not want to remain at the club now that Newcastle have bid for him.

The Daily Telegraph revealed Newcastle’s long-standing interest in Nketiah earlier this month. Howe wanted to bring in a young striker to develop in this window before centre-forward Callum Willson suffered a calf injury that will rule him out until March at the earliest.

Nketiah has attracted interest from Crystal Palace and there have been reports that Arsenal have rejected a bid for the 22-year-old, who has refused to extend a contract that expires at the end of the season.

With Newcastle close to completing a £40 million deal to sign Guimaraes from Lyon – the midfielder underwent a medical yesterday – this will take their spending to around £100million in this window.