Mainz ‘ready to talk’ with Newcastle poised to swoop for £12.5m star
Newcastle United want to bring Mainz centre-back Jeremiah St. Juste to St James’ Park before the end of the month, according to reports in Germany.
The Magpies are keen to strengthen their defence further before the January transfer window slams shut on Monday evening.
Newcastle have so far managed to bring in Chris Wood from Burnley and Kieran Trippier from Atletico Madrid as they look to revamp their squad this month.
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However, deals have been harder to come by recently with numerous rumours of players and club rejecting Newcastle’s adavances in the transfer market.
Their position in the Premier League table (18th) coupled with clubs knowing they have lots of money are proving to be barriers in front of potential deals.
Sevilla defender Diego Carlos wanted to move to St James’ Park but the Spanish outfit wanted £20m more than Newcastle were prepared to offer and the deal collapsed.
Sven Botman was another of their top targets at centre-back but the Geordies decided to end talks in that case too with Lille ‘not engaging’.
And now Sky Deutschland claim that Eddie Howe is ‘interested’ in bringing St. Juste to Newcastle from Bundesliga outfit Mainz.
It is understood that ‘discussions between the clubs are already underway’ but that the possibility that a deal will be struck is ‘still completely open’.
In positive news for Newcastle, Mainz are ‘ready to talk’ and find an outcome with the Magpies needing to bid €15m (£12.5m) to seal a deal.
Meanwhile, a deal is understood to be in the pipeline for Bayer Leverkusen left-back Mitchel Bakker and former England goalkeeper Paul Robinson reckons it would be “clever business” from Newcastle.
Robinson told Football Insider: “That could turn out to be a clever bit of business. It’s an area they need to strengthen in.
“In all honesty, they could strengthen all over the pitch at Newcastle. Chris Wood and Kieran Trippier are decent signings but it’s not enough. With the money and the finances they have got they should be bettering their squad in numerous positions.
“They are in the bottom three for a reason and one of those reasons is the standard of their defending. It’s been a big problem.
“Left-back is an area they need to strengthen in. Bakker could be one of a number of solutions they look to before the window shuts.”