Newcastle remain locked in talks with Leicester over Harvey Barnes with the Magpies pondering an opening offer around the £30million mark.
Barnes is Newcastle’s No1 target for a wide attacking role after scoring 13 goals for the relegated Foxes last season. The 25-year-old has two years remaining on his contract and is valued at close to £40m – the fee Leicester received from Tottenham for James Maddison earlier this summer.
Barnes was also targeted by Aston Villa and West Ham but Newcastle has always been his first choice as he would have the chance to play in the Champions League in the coming season.
is proven at this level, playing a key role in the Leicester teams who finished fifth in 2020 and 2021, as well as winning the FA Cup in 2021 and reaching the semi-finals of the Europa Conference League a year later. The 25-year-old will hope to add to his single England cap in the build-up to Euro 2024.
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Dropping into the Championship placed extra pressure on Leicester to sell their star assets given the reduction in television revenue, parachute payments notwithstanding.
Maddison and Barnes were comfortably the Foxes’ best two attackers last season but are unlikely to be the only players to leave, with Kelechi Iheanacho, Timothy Castagne, Wilfried Ndidi, Patson Daka, Jannik Vestergaard and Boubakary Soumare among those who could also depart.
The sale of Barnes would also help Leicester stay within spending rules. Any fee the Foxes generate would count as pure profit under Financial Fair Play, as Barnes was developed in the Leicester academy.
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