Newcastle United agreed personal terms with £20m-rated star as fresh January approach mooted

The Magpies submitted a £16million bid in mid-June which was rejected by the Clarets, whose asking price was north of £20m. The 21-year-old had reportedly already agreed personal terms but negotiations stalled when United stopped to solve their Premier League Profitability and Sustainability Rules (PSR) blackhole.

In a desperate attempt to avoid an inevitable points deduction, Newcastle offloaded both Elliot Anderson and Yankuba Minteh to Nottingham Forest and Brighton & Hove Albion, respectively, for a combined £68million. As part of Anderson’s £35m switch to Forest, Eddie Howe’s side agreed to sign Greek goalkeeper Odysseas Vlachodimos in return for a sizeable fee.

Adding the arrival of John Ruddy on a one-year contract, the Magpies have five senior goalkeepers on their books with Nick Pope, Mark Gillespie and Martin Dubravka already at the club. But despite that excessive number, Trafford remains of interest.

Pope is Newcastle’s undisputed number one, starting all but one of their opening 13 matches in all competitions. Both Dubravka and Vlachodimos played a half each in the 1-0 Carabao Cup win over AFC Wimbledon and have taken turns in being named on the bench. Dubravka is entering the final six months of his contract while Vlachodimos’ arrival was PSR forced.

Newcastle lack a genuine successor or competitor to Pope and Trafford, a young goalkeeper who is highly rated by those in the England set-up, is viewed as someone who can do that. However, whether they make a fresh approach to Burnley in January remains to be seen with a centre-back and right forward under consideration.