Newcastle plotting sensational Barcelona attacking raid but sent warning over major Milan target

Newcastle United have reportedly made an offer for a Barcelona forward as they look to improve Eddie Howe’s forward line this summer, while they have also suffered a potential setback in their chase for a Milan star.

The St James’ Park outfit have so far added Lewis Hall, Lloyd Kelly, John Ruddy and Odysseas Vlachodimos to their ranks ahead of the start of the new season.

In terms of exits, they have lost Elliot Anderson and Yankuba Minteh, while links rumours persists over the long-term futures of both Anthony Gordon and Bruno Guimaraes.

But in terms of any further additions, England managerial target Howe is known to want another attacker on board and another central defender.

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In terms of the former, Newcastle have moved away from the idea of trying to poach Raphinha from Barcelona and have now reportedly turned to his Camp Nou teammate Ferran Torres instead.

Reports in Spain suggest that the Magpies are tempting Barca with a €30m (£25m) offer for the former Manchester City attacker.

Newcastle 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 is not interested in moving to a team that is not laying in the Champions League in the coming campaign.

To that end, Torres has now emerged as one of the ‘alternatives’ for a fee that would be ‘considerably lower’, with Barcelona president Joan Laporta and sporting director Deco ‘totally open to discussing an agreement’.

It’s actually not the first time Newcastle have been linked with Torres, with reports of a lowball offer back in June.

However, they have now put a €30m proposal on the table, although it’s expected that the Catalan outfit will try and extract more from any proposed deal. Howe will also need to convince the Spaniard to move back to the Premier League as well.

Newcastle still looking to Thiaw out

In terms of the hunt for another centre-back, the Magpies are also known to have drawn up an offer for Milan star Malick Thiaw as well.

Newcastle have been strongly linked with the 22-year-old German for a number of weeks as Howe views Thiaw as a player perfect for his central defensive rotation.

Milan are currently open to offers for a player who is still under contract for another three years as they eye deals for the likes of Strahinja Pavlovic and Lazar Samardzic.

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Gazzetta dello Sport reports that Newcastle have drawn up a bid worth €30m for Thiaw, but that is not enough to convince Milan to sell as they want closer to €40m to allow the defensive star to move on this summer.

Should the deal go through, the Rossoneri would ten turn to further targets, including the likes Brighton’s Igor or Bologna’s Jhon Lucumi to help fill the Thoaw void and give boss Paulo Fonseca enough defensive options to work with.