Newcastle United battle Arsenal for £58 million Brazilian star

Newcastle United are expected to strengthen all over the pitch in the upcoming summer transfer window. The club already did a great job of that in January, when they splashed out around £90 million in transfer fees. And while all those players might not have made a great start to their time at St James’ Park, the club have had the desired effect that they would have been hoping for.

Newcastle United were looking destined for relegation not too long ago but have risen up the Premier League table rapidly since the turn of the year, and now find themselves sitting at 15th, and the drop looks like an improbability at this point even though not impossible.

One significant signing that Newcastle United made in the January transfer window was that of Bruno Guimaraes, who has not played regularly since arriving at the club but has shown glimpses of his incredible quality. And now, it looks like The Magpies have one of his former teammates in their sights as well.

As reported by Chronicle Live, Paris Saint-Germain do not seem very keen to sign Lucas Paqueta from Lyon anymore, meaning that the race for his signature could come down to Newcastle United and Arsenal. It is believed that it will take a £58 million transfer fee to sign him.

Newcastle United and Arsenal in race to sign Paqueta from Lyon

Paqueta’s stint at AC Milan might not have worked out as he would have hoped for, but he has been a standout for Lyon.

According to stats from Transfermarkt, Paqueta has scored 19 goals and provided 12 assists in 71 appearances overall for Lyon till now across all competitions. On top of that, the attacking midfielder has become a regular in the Brazilian national team as well.

He is also a former teammate of Guimaraes and could be the dream partner for him in the middle of the park.

Thus, signing someone like Paqueta could be a major coup on the part of The Magpies but the race for his signature is going to be very tough, not just because of the competition from Arsenal, but also because of the huge transfer fee and wages potentially involved as well.