Newcastle United have submitted a seven-figure offer to PAOK Thessaloniki for defender Dimitrios Giannoulis, according to Manu Lonjon.
The Toon are vying to improve Steve Bruce’s defence in the summer transfer window with the arrival of a new left-back, having decided against pursuing a permanent deal for Tottenham Hotspur’s Danny Rose on the back of the England international’s loan spell.
Rose featured for the club on 13 occasions but sat out our win over AFC Bournemouth and draw with West Ham United as boss Steve Bruce felt the Premier League restart had “taken a toll” on the £14.4million-rated 30-year-old.
Giannoulis was a near ever-present for PAOK in the 2019/20 season with the 24-year-old amassing 44 appearances across all competitions, including four outings in the Champions League and Europa League qualifying stages.
The 24-year-old Greece international only missed game time under manager Abel Ferreira as a result of suspensions, with his five Super League yellow cards for the term resulting in a one-game ban in January.
Newcastle are believed to have moved to win the race emerging for Giannoulis’ signature by submitting a formal offer, with it understood a bid of €4.5m (£4m) has been tabled for the 7-cap ace.
PAOK’s response has yet been noted, and it remains to be seen how forthcoming the Magpies hierarchy are with an improved bid should our initial offer fall on deaf ears.
Ligue 1 duo Olympique de Marseille and AS Saint-Etienne are also interested in signing Giannoulis during the summer window but are yet to formalise their transfer interest.
Giannoulis was a regular during Greece’s qualifying efforts for the postponed Euro 2020 tournament, with coach John van ‘t Schip calling on the 24-year-old in his side’s final five fixtures.
Greece had failed to take any points in their last three UEFA qualifiers before Giannoulis was introduced to the action, with his efforts helping to a draw and three wins – only losing to Italy.
Giannoulis provided the assist for Dimitrios Limnios’ winning effort away to Armenia, while also averaging 2.4 key balls, 26.0 accurate passes (85%), 1.4 interceptions, 1.2 tackles, 0.6 clearances and winning 3.8 duels (3.0 ground, 0.8 aerial) a game, per SofaScore.
The 5 ft 10 left-back’s long-range passing was also extremely accurate with a 73% success rate with all long balls, chipped passes and passes made in the opponent’s half. Giannoulis’ crosses also found teammates 35% of the time, with an average of 1.2 successful deliveries a game.