Newcastle United eye £70m Champions League star as goalkeeper attracts interest

Newcastle United have been credited with an interest in Inter Milan midfielder Nicolo Barella - but face competition from Premier League rivals Liverpool and Chelsea.

The 26-year-old has been in fine form this season after scoring eight goals and providing nine assists as the Serie A giants have pushed for a place in the top four and moved to within 90 minutes of reaching the Champions League Final. Barella scored the second goal in a 2-0 win in Wednesday night’s semi-final first leg against arch rivals AC Milan and they will hope to finish the job when the two sides meet once again on Tuesday.

However, there is growing speculation in Italy suggesting the 43-times capped Italy star could be allowed to leave the club this summer and InterLive have claimed Newcastle, Chelsea, Liverpool and Spanish giants Real Madrid have all been named as potential suitors for the midfielder.

Tigers keen to retain Darlow

One intriguing aspect of Newcastle’s summer plans will be the situation surrounding their goalkeeping options.

Nick Pope is without question first choice stopper but the future of a number of his rivals remains open to question. Loris Karius and Mark Gillespie are both out of contract at the end of the season and little is known of Martin Dubravka’s stance on what lies ahead after he spent part of this season on loan at Manchester United.

Karl Darlow is enjoying a productive loan spell at Championship club Hull City and Tigers manager Liam Rosenior has revealed he is keen to make the former Nottingham Forest star a permanent fixture at the club.

He told The Hull Daily Mail: “Karl’s a target, and I had a great conversation with Karl.

“Karl’s loving it here, and he understands why I gave Matty Ingram his chance (at Luton). I try to reward the players who deserve it, and Matty has given the club great service this season, he’s had a frustrating time of it but he deserved to play the game. Karl knows what I think of him, I want him here in the long term and hopefully, we can get something done.”