Barcelona ‘accept’ Newcastle ‘raised’ offer for Brazilian as Magpies ‘close in’ on fifth summer signing

Newcastle United are closing in on the signing of Barcelona winger Raphinha after the Magpies increased their offer for the Brazilian, according to reports.

The Geordies have already made four signings this summer with Lewis Hall, Lloyd Kelly, John Ruddy and Odysseas Vlachodimos all arriving in the first month of the transfer window.

Newcastle have also seen Elliot Anderson and Yankuba Minteh depart for Nottingham Forest and Brighton respectively but their next incoming may not be far away.

It is believed that Eddie Howe and the Newcastle recruitment department are looking for a new attacker this summer too with former Leeds United star Raphinha continuing to be linked with a move for St James’ Park.

There have been a number of reports insisting that Barcelona may choose to sacrifice Raphinha as they look to bring in some fresh faces over the summer.

Barcelona’s financial situation means they have to sell to buy top players and reports in Spain claim that president Joan Laporta has ‘accepted’ an offer from Newcastle for Raphinha.

It is understood that Newcastle have ‘raised’ their bid for Raphinha to €60m with the Premier League side said to be ‘closing in’ on a move for the Brazilian.

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Despite being considered key to Xavi’s plans at Barcelona last season, he is ‘not essential at all’ under new manager Hansi Flick and it is now ‘necessary to know the response of the winger’ to Newcastle’s offer.

The report adds that Raphinha is ‘not very tempted’ by the Newcastle offer as they are not currently competing in the Champions League or ‘fighting for trophies’, which are the ‘two requirements’ of any summer transfer for the Brazil international.

One player who could have left Newcastle over the last week is Anthony Gordon with the former Everton winger reportedly “over the moon” to hear about the possibility of joining Liverpool.

However, as revealed elsewhere, transfer expert Fabrizio Romano has insisted Liverpool didn’t make a bid as the asking price was too high.

Romano told his Caught Offside column : “What I’m told is the deal was never really close between Liverpool and Newcastle. They had a conversation. They had an exchange about the possibility, but the price tag was way too high for Liverpool to make things happen.

“A swap deal was also really complicated as Liverpool didn’t want to lose some of their best players. So, it was an idea, it was a conversation but it was never something really close.

“The player was over the moon – the player was keen on joining Liverpool. But at the end between the two clubs, like Alexander Isak with Chelsea, it was never something really concrete.”