Newcastle would be fortunate to get £20m asking price for wantaway ace Hayden

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Newcastle will have set their asking price if wantaway midfielder Issac Hayden is to leave the club this summer, according to the Daily Telegraph.

They report that the Magpies will not listen to offers below £15m, and will try and get £20m for the Englishman who has wanted to return to the south to be closer to his family since the beginning of the season.

This campaign has seen Hayden establish himself in the plans of Rafa Benitez, which has apparently raised his stock to the extent Mike Ashley feels he can get £20m for his services.

But Hayden’s situation needs to be taken into account – when a player wants to leave, it naturally weakens the selling club’s negotiating position.

Hayden has put the effort in for Newcastle this season and it would be an awful shame if the club priced him out of a move he wants to make for completely understandable reasons.

That would be exacerbated because it’s likely the club would not reinvest the top dollar price they want for Hayden in a top-drawer replacement, unless they break with the approach of underinvestment they have pursued for many seasons now.

£20m is probably too much for a player of Hayden’s quality, let alone one who has made it plain he wants to leave, and it would be a surprise if any potential suitor matched Newcastle’s ambitious valuation.