Newcastle’s dream of signing 22 year old Dutch defender, Sven Botman appears to be fading with it looking likely that the Lille man is going to choose a move to Milan.
Eddie Howe missed out on Botman in January but confidence was high within the club that a deal would be reached in the upcoming summer transfer window, backed up by Amanda Staveley’s interview where she heavily implied that Botman was still interested in joining the Magpies.
However, recently, Italian champions, AC Milan have shown a solid interest and it would seem that Botman has had his head turned.
In an interview with ESPN in his native Netherlands, Botman mentions that talks with Milan are “progressing” before breaking out into a very telling smile that will be a dagger to the heart of the Newcastle fans who were looking forward to seeing the Dutch international pulling on the Black and White Stripes next season.
Botman was viewed by Newcastle fans as “our Vincent Kompany”, a towering presence at the back who will provide the basis to build a successful team around as the Belgian was to Manchester City’s post-takeover revolution.
Other defenders, such as Manchester City’s Nathan Aké and Villa’s Tyrone Mings have been linked with moves to Newcastle recently, but neither ignite the type of excitement that Botman had brought to the club.