Report: Newcastle about to make £21m bid to sign left-footed star

By Sam Preston

Newcastle are ready to submit an improved offer worth over £21 million for Bayer Leverkusen’s Mitchel Bakker.

Bild claim that the Magpies have already made a bid of 20 million euros (£16.8 million) for the 21-year-old left-sided player.

That has been rebuffed but Newcastle are clearly keen to test Leverkusen’s resolve with a bid of 25 million euros ahead of the summer transfer window.

Newcastle loaned in Matt Targett for the second half of the season but it is not a foregone conclusion that they will buy him from Aston Villa.

Newcastle ready improved bid for Mitchel Bakker

Bakker can play at left-back as well as further forward as a winger, and has a bright future in the game ahead of him.

These reports that Newcastle are not set on buying Targett suggests they have someone else in mind as a longer term option to play on the left of their defence.

Newcastle needed shorter term options during the January transfer window, and that has done the trick as they have secured Premier League survival.

Now, the club can look at players who can grow with the club over a longer period of time, and they are recruiting from a position as a hugely ambitious mid-table club.

That approach has pros and cons and the proof will be in the pudding.

It makes sense for Newcastle to target talented young players who can progress at the same rate as the club does to get to where they want to go, but first they must see if their next bid for Bakker is accepted.