Newcastle United are close to reaching a revised agreement to sign Galatasaray centre-half Marcao, according to Aksam via Sport Witness.
The Toon have been in talks with Gala over a permanent deal for Marcao, who enjoyed 39 appearances at the heart of Fatih Terim’s defence last season, and could soon edge interest from Serie A side Atalanta for the Brazilian.
Newcastle are understood to have seen an opening offer of €22million (£19.6m) turned down during the negotiations, but are entering the final stage of discussions after revising our approach to include a sell-on clause.
Galatasaray were insistent on having a percentage of any future fee received for Marcao and have now informed manager Terim of our new €19m (£16.9m) offer that features a 10 per cent clause.
It is presumed the offer will be accepted as the Turk Telekom Stadium side are in need of funds to strengthen the first-team after missing out on European football, having slumped to a sixth-place finish in the Super Lig last term some 13 points behind title-winning rivals Istanbul Basaksehir.
Marcao may prove to be one of two central defenders to move to St. James’ Park ahead of the new Premier League season, with reports that a loan deal for Arsenal’s Rob Holding could be confirmed by the end of the week.
Would you spend €19m to land Marcao?
Yes
No
Marcao helped Galatasaray to ten clean sheets over his 28 Super Lig appearances last term, in which he averaged 3.2 clearances, 1.8 interceptions, 1.5 tackles and 6.8 duels won (4.3 ground, 2.6 aerial) a game. His duel success equated to 68% of all battles, while being fouled 2.3 times a match, per SofaScore.
The 24-year-old centre-half also never committed any errors that led to shots or goals, though did commit 1.1 fouls a game and gave away two penalties, was brandished 11 yellow cards and saw one result in a red.
He would be comfortable on the ball at St. James’ Park if our interest is genuine, as the 6 ft 1 ace took on average 78.9 touches and played 58.5 accurate passes (90%) each league fixture.