Newcastle United ‘ready to offer’ over £17.5m for Sven Botman’s former team-mate

Newcastle United are reportedly preparing a late bid for Lille defender Tiago Djalo.

The former Portugal Under-21 international began his career with Sporting Lisbon and showed enough promise during the early years of his career to earn a move to Serie A giants AC Milan in January 2019.

His time in Italy would be short as Djalo would complete a reported £3m move to Lille seven months later, making his debut alongside former Southampton centre-back Jose Fonte in a 2-1 home win against Nantes just days after his arrival.

Djalo was joined at Lille by current Magpies star Sven Botman in the summer of 2020 and the duo helped their club to a surprise Ligue 1 title win during the following season.

The defender was involved in a spat with Brazilian superstar Neymar during his side’s 1-0 win over Paris Saint-Germain as they moved close to their historic title win as the duo clashed in the tunnel following the game. Speaking of the incident, Djalo said: “We should respect each other, we are colleagues and what is lacking from Neymar is a bit of respect. Neymar must have more respect.”

Djalo continued to impress after Botman completed his move to Tyneside last summer and there are now reports he could make the same journey to the one made by the Dutch star last January.

FootMercato have reported Newcastle are ‘interested’ in a move for the versatile 22-year-old, who remains under contract with Lille until the summer of 2024. With just over 24 hours left in the January transfer window, the report claims the Magpies are ready to offer over £17.5m to reunite Djalo with Botman at St James Park.