Newcastle bows out of race for Napoli’s Khvicha Kvaratskhelia
By Cade Cracas
Newcastle United has seemingly ended its race for Napoli superstar winger, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, after the club closed out on a deal for Leicester City forward, Harvey Barnes.
The club was looking to bring in more squad depth in the attacking area and specified it was a focal point in the summer 2023 transfer window.
After Newcastle took down Gateshead, 3-2, in a friendly match just a few weeks ago, Manager Eddie Howe took to an interview stating that the team was looking into new editions for the squad.
However, he mentioned that the asking prices for players had reached new heights and that players are “expensive these days”.
Luckily for the Magpies and Howe, they were able to secure Barnes for just north of €35 million, giving the club an opportunity to find room for more players this offseason.
The reason for the team moving away from Kvaratskhelia was due to the asking price. Napoli reportedly wanted over €100 million for the 22-year-old, while Newcastle’s initial offer was roughly €80 million.
While he does offer a versatile playstyle, the asking price is too much to risk for Newcastle who are just coming off a successful 2022-23 Premier League campaign. They already have young stars like Anthony Gordon, Alexander Isak, Sandro Tonali and others, so shelling out that much money could potentially hinder the team in the future.
Napoli is often regarded as one of the most difficult teams in the world to negotiate with, and that also led to Newcastle backing out of the negotiation.
Even though they did back out, they did not leave empty-handed this week.
Barnes was a top forward in the Premier League this past season and at 25 years old he still has plenty of time left to hit his prime and help propel the team forward. He also was a much cheaper offer with an easily negotiable contract.
Personal terms have been rumored to be an unlikely problem as both sides are keen on completing a deal.
To free up space, recent rumors suggest that Newcastle are expected to raise the money for Barnes by selling out-of-form winger, Allan Saint-Maximin.
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