Newcastle ‘tempts’ Barcelona with £25m offer for ‘new target’ as Magpies bid also arrives for Serie A star

Newcastle United have made an offer for Barcelona star Ferran Torres as they look to improve their forward line this summer, 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.

But now the Magpies could be moving on to Raphinha’s team-mate Torres with reports in Spain claiming that Newcastle are ‘tempting’ Barcelona with a €30m (£25m) offer.

It is understood that Raphinha is now ‘ruled out’ and now Torres is their ‘new target’ as the Premier League side ‘open a new negotiation channel’ with Barcelona.

Newcastle have pulled the plug on a deal for Raphinha as Barcelona ‘will not be satisfied with receiving a figure less than what they had to pay’ Leeds United two years ago, while the Brazilian does ‘not seemed tempted by the possibility of landing at a team that will not be playing in the Champions League next season’.

And now Torres has emerged as one of the ‘alternatives’ and the fee would be ‘considerably lower’ for the Spain international with Barcelona president Joan Laporta and sporting director Deco ‘are totally open to discussing an agreement’.

€30m is the amount that Newcastle have ‘put on the table’ for Torres but Barcelona ‘will try to get more money’ from the Premier League side, while Eddie Howe ‘will also have to convince’ the player to move to St James’ Park.

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Another option the Magpies are looking at is Fiorentina forward Nicolas Gonzalez with reports in Italy now claiming that Newcastle put in a bid for the Argentina international a ‘few days ago’.

Fiorentina sporting director Daniele Prade said that Gonzalez was “99 per cent unsellable” in June but ‘fifty days after those words, something has moved’.

Newcastle’s ‘offer arrived via intermediaries’ but the ‘figure doesn’t yet seem to be one that will make people tremble’ and it is ‘certainly less than the €43 million offered by Brentford twelve months ago’.

It is claimed that the bid is ‘a starting point’ and that Newcastle ‘would like to sell’ Miguel Almiron in an effort to ‘improve the offer for the Fiorentina player’.

Newcastle manager Howe has been linked with the vacant England job after Gareth Southgate stepped down from his position earlier this month.

Asked about the England situation at the Magpies’ training camp in Germany last week, the former Bournemouth boss said: “It’s been a strange one for me because I’ve been absolutely cut off from it.

“Fortunately I’m out here, so it’s only through a mobile phone or someone telling me something that you hear about it.

“My commitment to Newcastle is unwavering and it has been since I came to the football club. As long as I have certain things for me – as in I’m happy, I’m allowed to work in the way I need to work in order to get the best out of me and I feel supported – then that will never change.”