Newcastle United £40m transfer twist as first West Ham United deal confirmed

West Ham United remain keen on signing Harvey Barnes as they prepare to invest the funds gained from Declan Rice’s British record move to Arsenal.

The Hammers’ first piece of business this summer was selling Rice to their London rivals for a fee believed to be worth £100million plus £5m in performance-related add-ons.

With Rice’s transfer concluded over the weekend, David Moyes’ side are expected to become active in the summer market - and Barnes is among the players under consideration, as reported by Sky Sports News.

Newcastle United have held talks with Leicester City over the 25-year-old but are yet to agree a fee. NewcastleWorld understands Barnes is very keen on a move to St James’ Park, which will host Champions League football this season, but as claimed by head coach Eddie Howe on Saturday, “nothing’s close” in terms of a possible deal.

The Foxes, who reportedly value Barnes around £40m, are braced for losing the winger. Barnes was coincidentally left out of the matchday squad for friendlies against Peterborough United and Northampton Town last week.

“At the moment Harvey is our player and he has been training with us,” said Leicester boss Enzo Marseca. “In the last few days he did not train because he has a small problem but he is fine. We will see what happens in the future.”

“I don’t know about the value,” he added. “I just judge the player and he is our player and has been doing sessions every day with us. He has been very good until he picked up a small problem.

“He was only able to return to training yesterday with us and that is why he was not here today. What happens in the future I do not know.”

Leicester travel to Thailand later this week for a pre-season tour. All eyes will be on whether or not Barnes is included in the travelling party.