Newcastle manager Eddie Howe will target a left winger this summer and has Leicester’s Harvey Barnes firmly in his sights.
Howe has strengthened the priority position of a central midfielder with Italy international Sandro Tonali in a £52 million deal from AC Milan, and he intends to bolster his frontline ahead of a campaign of Champions League football.
Barnes, 25, is expected to be among the departures at the King Power Stadium this summer following Premier League relegation, with James Maddison already leaving the club for Tottenham.
Spurs and West Ham were among several clubs linked with Barnes and he is on Newcastle’s radar to add competition for Howe. Alexander Isak, Miguel Almiron, Anthony Gordon and Allan Saint-Maximin were attacking players that supported Callum Wilson last season, but it is understood that an additional wide forward is wanted.
Any deal rests on a suitable price for Barnes, with Newcastle already committing a significant amount to Tonali. Barnes, who was capped by England in 2020, scored 13 goals last season despite relegation and netted on the final day of the season to raise hopes of beating the drop.
He is seen by Premier League clubs as a low-risk signing considering he has played for four seasons as a regular at Leicester, having completed EFL loans earlier in his career at MK Dons, Barnsley and West Brom.
He has two seasons left on his deal at Leicester, although he is expected to be a departure this summer despite the risk of losing him without a fee in a year’s time.
As revealed by the Daily Telegraph last week, Newcastle made a bid for Southampton full-back Tino Livramento but the two clubs hit a stalemate in talks over a fee. They also looked at Dominik Szoboszlai before the Hungarian midfielder’s move from RB Leipzig to Liverpool.
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