Newcastle have made an official bid to sign RB Leipzig striker Benjamin Sesko after boss Eddie Howe admitted the situation surrounding unsettled star Alexander Isak was “far from ideal”.
All eyes are on St James’ Park right now as the Premier League club look to keep the Swedish sharpshooter while also attempting to bring in a big-name striker.
The PA news agency understands Newcastle have accelerated talks with Leipzig to sign Sesko – who Manchester United also have in their sights – and submitted an offer reportedly worth up to £69.7million.
The development comes after the Magpies rejected a £110m bid for Isak on Friday from Liverpool, who recently beat them to the signing of Frankfurt frontman Hugo Ekitike.
“I think from my situation, I am very much removed from everything that is happening back home,” Newcastle boss Howe said on Isak.
“I was made aware that there was a bid yesterday. That bid was turned down all before I even heard about it, so I think there’s people back in England dealing with the situation.
“I really don’t know what’s going to happen next, but from our perspective we still support Alex in every way, and my wish is still that we see him in a Newcastle shirt again.”
Isak did not travel to Asia for Newcastle’s pre-season tour due to what the club called a “minor thigh injury”, only for talk of his unhappiness to emerge.
Howe admitted “you don’t know what’s going to happen from this point” and, surprisingly, that he found out that the 25-year-old was training at former club Real Sociedad through the media.
“I know where he is, really, through the media, so I think from that perspective it’s difficult for me to go into any kind of detail,” the Newcastle boss said at a press conference in Seoul previewing a friendly against Tottenham.
“The situation is far from ideal and it is quite complex. I think that’s all I have got to say.”
Isak is reportedly set to return to the north east on Saturday and resume training with Newcastle, whose pursuit of Slovenia international Sesko was something Howe remained tight-lipped about.
The manager said “he can’t talk about individual targets” in the wake of reports in the striker’s homeland overnight claiming that the 22-year-old wants to move to St James’ Park rather than Old Trafford.
Newcastle have now reportedly made a 75m euros (£65.4m) bid to Leipzig, with a further 5m euros (£4.3m) in potential add-ons.
Sesko was conspicuous by his absence from the Bundesliga club’s squad for their friendly against Atalanta on Saturday afternoon.
Howe said: “We are looking for the best players that we can get. Whatever our target position is, we’re looking for the best, so I see all situations open and available to us.
“I feel that’s the only way that we’re going to get to where we want to go, which is to maximise, and it’s quality over quantity. It always has been.
“That’s always been the way that we try to work and try to recruit, and I think we’ve done it pretty well to this point.
“It’s been a challenging summer, as you know, because we’ve missed out on various targets for loads of different reasons.
“But we’re still very competitive and we’re still in there trying to bring very good players to the club and that won’t change until the window shuts.”
