Newcastle United miss out on ambitious £102m double swoop on Inter and AC Milan

Newcastle United reportedly made two unsuccessful attempts to land two high-profile Serie A targets earlier this summer.

The Magpies have already made two signings during the summer transfer window after completing a £55m deal for AC Milan and Italy midfielder Sandro Tonali and a £6m move for Odense winger Yankuba Minteh, who has now joined Dutch champions Feyenoord on a season-long loan.

A third deal is being discussed with Championship club Leicester City as Eddie Howe looks to add long-term target Harvey Barnes to his squad and negotiations are also ongoing over a move to bring Southampton full-back Tino Livramento to Tyneside.

The Magpies are alos looking to move on several members of their squad to bring in additional funds as they continue to contend with Financial Fair Play regulations and the likes of Allan Saint-Maximin, Ryan Fraser, Javier Manquillo and Karl Darlow have all been linked with moves away from St James Park in recent days.

Adding a full-back, centre-back, midfielder and a forward remain on the agenda for the United recruitment team but Italian journalist Gianluca di Marzio has revealed the Magpies were unable to fill two of those positions by completing an audacious swoop to land Internazionale midfielder Nicolo Barella and AC Milan defender Theo Hernandez.

Speaking to German outlet wettfreunde.net about United’s attempts to land an audacious double swoop, Di Marzio said: “I know that Newcastle want Harvey Barnes and when Newcastle wants a player, they will get him. It’s difficult to imagine that they won’t get the player they want.

“They definitely have the resources to convince the player. They want Harvey Barnes and with their way of working they are getting the players they want. The only one they didn’t manage to get was Nicolo Barella but Barella doesn’t want to leave Inter and they don’t want to sell him so it was a difficult deal to make.

“They tried to get Theo Hernandez too but they only offered €60 million (£51m) and AC Milan said no. But Newcastle are capable of raising offers if they really want the player and they can offer a very high salary as well. Newcastle could become the new Manchester City in the Premier League’s market but they don’t want to exaggerate and do more than they need.”