Gossip: Newcastle to sell seven and battle Man Utd for striker

Matt Stead
Robert Lewandowski grimaces

Newcastle have predictably big plans for the summer transfer window and they involve selling everyone before targeting Robert Lewandowski.

 

I’M A BE-LEWA
Robert Lewandowski feels like one of those players who never moves to the Premier League despite being periodically linked with a number of its clubs. Chelsea have been credited with a long-standing interest, as have Liverpool and Manchester City. Blackburn would have signed him if not for that bloody volcano that time.

Manchester United are perhaps the biggest admirers of Lewandowski, targeting him in summer 2012 before making the little boy inside Robin van Persie awfully happy instead. That respect has lasted a full decade and those waters will be tested again at the end of the season.

Lewandowski’s representatives have been in touch with the Old Trafford club, if 90min are to be believed. They add that while his Bayern Munich contract has more than a year left to run, the developing Erling Haaland situation could change that. If the Borussia Dortmund striker makes that time-honoured journey to the Allianz, Lewandowski might seek to leave.

He would have no shortage of suitors. Manchester United ‘would consider the idea’ and ‘have asked to be kept informed’ of any developments, while Manchester City, Arsenal, Aston Villa and Newcastle are also in the running. An eclectic list, to be sure.

 

TYNE TO SELL
Newcastle will obviously have to shift a few players out, strapped for cash as they are, if they want to bring in someone like Lewandowski. That is certainly the plan, according to The Times.

They report on ‘a huge first-team overhaul’ at St James’ Park, presumably contingent on avoiding relegation. Quoting a well-placed source on this “major clearout”, it is expected that Miguel Almiron, Dwight Gayle, Jamal Lewis, Isaac Hayden, Ciaran Clark, Emil Krafth and Karl Darlow will all be made available.

That ‘significant offload’ will lead to a ‘squad upgrade’. Those seven players cost about £62m. Newcastle will not expect to recover that outlay.

 

CHRIST THE REDEEMER
Andreas Christensen seems to have made up his mind and not even a warning from Gus Poyet is going to change it. The 25-year-old has become a world and European champion with Chelsea but his sights are set on ruling Spain.

With a contract set to expire in the summer, Christensen and Chelsea had been locked in negotiations for weeks. The centre-half rejected at least one offer and yet many still felt a resolution could be found.

But Fabrizio Romano has sounded the final death knell of those hopes. He interestingly notes that other Premier League clubs were unsuccessful in tempting Christensen, whose move to Barcelona will be completed soon.

Football Transfer Gossip Andreas Christensen

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