EXCLUSIVE: Newcastle close to agreeing second sale as Leeds hijack Bournemouth bid
Karl Darlow is leaning towards a summer move to Leeds United, despite serious interest from Bournemouth.
The Cherries have been in talks with Newcastle this week over a deal for the 32-year-old, but the Whites are back in the mix and the new favourites to land the goalkeeper.
Leeds suffered relegation to the Championship in May and are thought to be offering a lower salary than Bournemouth. However, the opportunity to play regular football at Elland Road appeals to the shot-stopper, with Illan Meslier expected to move. Bournemouth’s offer of Premier League football carries plenty of appeal, though he could find himself behind Brazilian stopper Neto.
Relocating to Yorkshire would also keep Darlow closer to the North-East, which has become his new home after nine years on Tyneside, where he’s started a family with fiancée Lucy.
Newcastle have been pushing for a fee in the region of £5m – a price that put off the likes of Hull City and Middlesbrough – but the club are likely to accept slightly less in order to move another senior player off the wage bill, with Allan Saint-Maximin also closing in on a £30m move to Al-Ahli.
After featuring in recent pre-season friendlies against Gateshead and Rangers, Darlow has been given permission to fly back from our USA camp and is expected to finalise his future in the coming days.
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SIMON Francis detailed how Cherries “jumped” at the chance to bring Justin Kluivert to England when the Dutchman became available this summer.
Kluivert became the first addition of the Andoni Iraola era at Vitality Stadium in June, swapping Roma for Dorset in a deal reportedly worth an initial £9.5million.
READ MORE: Simon Francis hints James Hill may head back out on loan
Player-turned-assistant technical director Francis revealed how Cherries had tracked the winger for some time, before snapping up the opportunity to secure his signature when it became clear he no longer had a future at Roma.
Speaking to afcb.co.uk, Francis shared: “At Valencia, where I think he had his most productive season of his career, really stayed injury free, got goals, got assists, was performing at a high level in a struggling Valencia team.
“Obviously there was an opportunity for us in the summer to sign him and we jumped at that chance because I think he adds a lot of quality to what is already a lot of good attacking talent.”
Francis then went on to explain in further detail why he thought the son of Patrick Kluivert was a good fit to the playing squad at Cherries, pointing to his ability to play on the left wing whilst preferring to use his right foot.
“We have a lot of left footers in the squad, I think Justin balances it out on the left side being a right footer,” continued the ex-Cherries star.
“Him and Jaidon Anthony can operate down that side and I think he brings pace, trickery.
“We’ve already seen it (against Maccabi Tel Aviv), we saw it against Hibernian as well.
“And for sure he’ll have goals and assists, which at Premier League level is an absolute must.
“I think he’ll settle in really well and it’s good to have him on board very early.
“Definitely settled in very well in these early stages.”
Cherries continue their pre-season campaign on Tuesday, when they visit recently relegated Southampton.
They round off their preparations for the new campaign with the visit of Atalanta and FC Lorient on Saturday, July 29, and Saturday, August 5, respectively.
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