Newcastle line up £50m midfielder snubbed by Man Utd as Guimaraes replacement

Newcastle United have reportedly set their sights on Carlos Baleba as a potential replacement for former skipper Bruno Guimaraes, after Man Utd backed away from a deal for the Brighton midfielder.

The Magpies were reluctant to lose their captain, who developed into a firm fans’ favourite at St James’ Park over the past four seasons, but wanted out following developments on Tyneside over the summer.

The big-money departures of Anthony Gordon and Sandro Tonali were followed by the shock exit of boss Eddie Howe, while the likes of Lewis Hall and Tino Livramento are also being tipped to leave this summer.

With Tonali gone and Guimaraes joining Arsenal for £75million, Newcastle have at least done some business to bolster new boss Matthias Jaissle’s engine room.

Indeed, the Magpies have signed two top talents in 20-year-old Aladji Bamba and 18-year-old Sean Steur, although neither are reagrded as direct replacements for Guimaraes.

Jaissle, however, wants a more experienced face through the door, hence why Newcastle recently expressed interest in former Tottenham captain Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg.

The former Tottenham man turned down the chance to move to the Magpies, though, in what’s been a disastrous summer for the club so far.

Newcastle make their move for Baleba

BBC Sport, however, claims that Hojbjerg is ‘only one of a handful of options Newcastle are considering’ for Jaissle, while a separate report from the Daily Mail states that St James’ Park transfer chiefs have now made an approach to sign Baleba.

Jaissle is said to be an ‘admirer’ of Baleba, who was close to joining Manchester United this time last year only to stay on the south coast.

While United were widely tipped to revive their interest in Baleba this summer, they instead splashed out a combined £83m on Andrey Santos and Youri Tielemans instead.

And, although the Red Devils remain in the market for another midfield signing, Fabrizio Romano recently revealed that they have now ended their interest in the Brighton man, despite his price tag dropping to around £50m.

That appears to have opened the door for Newcastle to swoop, although it’s unclear, at this stage, what Baleba feels about a move to the North East.

Either way, Newcastle need to sign a midfielder with Premier League experience before the window shuts on September 1, and although Baleba is only 22 years of age, he is already approaching 100 appearances in England’s top flight.

By all accounts, Jaissle’s side looked woeful in their 3-1 friendly loss to Everton on Wednesday evening, and face Bayer Leverkusen next on Saturday.