Price tag plummets for lofty Newcastle target due to possible relegation consequence

Konstantinos Mavropanos will be available for a potentially significant discounted fee in the summer after being linked with Newcastle United in January, per the latest updates.

Mavropanos is currently on loan at Stuttgart from Arsenal, where he only ever made eight appearances. The Gunners could profit from his sale at the end of the season, though. Stuttgart have two clauses by which they can sign the Greece international on a permanent basis.

If they stay in the Bundesliga, they will be obliged to. In contrast, if they are relegated, they will have an option to buy instead – which they are still expected to take up. In doing so, they could turn a quick profit themselves.

According to Heidenheimer Zeitung (via Sport Witness), Stuttgart could sell Mavropanos if they need to raise funds. Intriguingly, they could lower their asking price.

In January, they told Newcastle they would have to pay €30m for his signature. Now, they would only be asking for €25m if they remain a Bundesliga club, or €12.5m if they have dropped to the second tier in Germany.

The original report does not mention whether Newcastle remain interested in the 6’4″ defender or not. However, the source does warn that Mavropanos is happy playing for Stuttgart.

Newcastle join Joe Gomez race with Aston Villa as Liverpool look to sell

Joe Gomez will leave Liverpool this summer with Aston Villa and now Newcastle very interested in 24 year old defender

Still, he has an ambition to return to the Premier League at some stage. Theoretically, Newcastle could provide him with that opportunity.

They too are fighting for top-flight survival. However, a recent run of results, backed by their January transfer activity, has boosted their hopes of staying up.

Mavropanos could fit in Staveley spending strategy

Should they confirm Premier League status, they should be more appealing to many targets. That said, club director Amanda Staveley has given a message of caution about their summer spending.

Speaking at the Financial Times Business of Football Summit, Staveley admitted the new regime has different goals to predecessor Mike Ashley.

“Mike was very honest with the fans he said he didn’t have deep enough pockets to invest,” she said. “Neither have (husband) Mehrdad and I. Thank god we have incredibly wealthy investors alongside us like PIF and the Reuben family, Jamie Reuben.

“He had taken the view he was ready to sell. We arrived and the business model is to build this club into a huge global business, a huge global brand and we want to be the best at football and challenging for trophies.

“That needs a lot of investment. We are not saying we are going to spend silly money. We are not.

“I hope that in the next transfer window people will see we are not going to overpay for players or assets. If people think we will spend silly money, we will not.”

But Newcastle still made five smart signings in the winter; they could be on the lookout for similar reinforcements in the summer. Only time will tell if they revisit Mavropanos as a target.

READ MORE: Botman ‘moving closer’ to next club as Tottenham, Newcastle wait on transfer decision