Newcastle United sent ‘hefty fee’ warning as Magpies hit with £110m transfer demand

Newcastle United have been met with defiance from both Nottingham Forest and Brighton & Hove Albion in their pursuit of Anthony Elanga and Joao Pedro this weekend.

Both stars have been long-term targets of United and are on the wish-list of Eddie Howe who is eager to bolster his squad in the summer trading period. However, both the Sweden international and Brazilian forward are very much part of the plans at both clubs.

After a frustrating start to the summer window for Howe and his backroom team, here’s the state of play at St James’ Park on transfers.

Anthony Elanga

This isn’t the first time Newcastle have registered their interest in Anthony Elanga. Last summer the Sweden right winger was subject of a £35million bid from United amid the talks for Elliot Anderson.

In an act of pure desperation, Newcastle sold the Geordie boy to the City Ground and got Odysseas Vlachodimos in return with the Greek international effectively a training keeper for most of the season. Even then, Newcastle won’t get any empathy from Forest who have since ramped up the asking price of Elanga with the fee set to be north of the £50m mark.

City Ground insiders say that Elanga is deemed a “core” member of Nuno Espírito Santo’s team as Forest look to push on in the Europa Conference League next season and get into the Champions League. With Forest under no pressure, PSR-wise, they can hold out for a big fee and don’t need to sell.