Newcastle United have joined Tottenham Hotspur in showing an interest in Monaco’s Guillermo Maripan, according to Chilean news outlet CDF.
The Magpies are reportedly keeping close tabs on the Chilean defender as Steve Bruce plans for the 2020/21 campaign.
Interest from Jose Mourinho’s Spurs’ has reportedly died down, leaving the path clear for Newcastle to potentially land their man.
The report claims the 26-year-old defender, who played 20 times for Monaco in Ligue 1 last season following his arrival from Alaves, would be available to buy for a fee in the region of €20 million (£18m) this summer.
For Bruce, the move comes after he can now finally begin to work on his own plans for the upcoming campaign following a turbulent start to the summer, brought on by the takeover rumours.
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A deal of such expenditure would come as a slight surprise under the current ownership given the nature of the deals already completed this summer. Until now Newcastle, have brought in Jeff Hendrick from Burnley and Mark Gillespie from Motherwell, both on free transfers.
The move for a central defender comes as a surprise in itself as that is one area of the pitch Bruce’s squad is pretty well stocked in
Club captain Jamaal Lascelles, Ciaran Clark, Fabian Schar, Federico Fernandez and Florian Lejeune all offer pretty decent central defensive options and such money, if it is available, could be best spent on a reliable goalscorer.
