Exclusive: Newcastle United submit opening €40 million bid to sign Barcelona winger with Eddie Howe keen to bring player to St James Park this summer
Newcastle United have reportedly tabled an opening offer worth €40 million to secure the signing of Barcelona forward Ferran Torres.
Premier League outfit Newcastle United could make a bold summer swoop for Barcelona forward Ferran Torres this summer. That is according to Fichajes, who report the Magpies have presented an offer of €40 million to the Blaugrana for the Spanish international’s signature.
The Magpies will be playing Champions League football next season for the first time in over two decades, and they are expected to be busy in the summer transfer window. Manager Eddie Howe will be given a sizeable budget to work with in the coming weeks, with recent reports of a major summer warchest.
While midfield, left-back, and central defence are the priority areas to strengthen this summer, the Toon are looking for another attacking reinforcement who will be versatile enough to play all across the front line.
As such, Newcastle have been linked with a summer swoop to bring Ferran Torres back to the Premier League.
Torres has played in the Premier League before at Manchester City. During his stint at the Etihad, the Spaniard racked up a commendable 16 goals and four assists across 43 appearances, most of which came off the bench or in cup competitions.
The 23-year-old only joined Barcelona from Manchester City in December 2021 in a deal worth €55 million, making an impressive start to life at Camp Nou. However, he has fallen down the pecking order under Xavi Hernandez lately, managing just 22 competitive starts throughout last season.
In total, the Spanish international has mustered just 71 appearances in a Barcelona jersey, boasting 14 goals and nine assists, which indicates his goal return in Spain has not been a fruitful one as of yet. And despite still having another four years to run on his contract, his future is extremely uncertain heading into the upcoming window.
While La Liga has given their green light for Barcelona’s financial feasibility plan for the summer, they are still under pressure to continue their policy of selling and releasing players to balance their books, free up their wage bill, and add some fresh faces to the squad.
With Barcelona attempting to find quick solutions and willing to consider selling Torres, he is much more attainable for Newcastle, too. Signing Torres will show their statement of intent.
Newcastle have invested very shrewdly under the new regime in recent years, as they have yet to snag a top player from a top club like Barcelona.
Likewise, Torres may be persuaded to join the Magpies by having a look at the improvements Howe has extracted from his current roster, with the likes of Callum Wilson, Alexander Isak, and Miguel Almiron all exceeding expectations in the 2022/23 season.
At 23 years old, he is still so young despite playing at a top level and will have something to prove after his unsuccessful spells at City and Barcelona. The report adds that it could take Newcastle €50 million to close this operation and get their man. Whether the Magpies want to up their offer from €40 million remains to be seen.
