"Newcastle have been watching him for a long time and really want to sign him”

Newcastle have submitted a written offer for Ajax midfielder Vurnon Anita according to the agent of the player.

Harry Lulofs represents the 23-year-old defensive midfielder who can also play at left-back, a versatility that is allegedly interesting Newcastle.

Lulofs claims that the written bid made to Ajax is between £5m and £10m although he remained coy on the precise figure.

The player, born in Netherlands Antilles, was a prominent fixture in the side that won the Dutch Eredivisie this season and only narrowly missed out on winning a call up to EURO 2012 with Holland after being cut from Bert van Marwijk's preliminary squad.

"Newcastle have made an offer between £5-10 million. I cannot give you the accurate figure, but Ajax have received a written offer,” said Lulofs.

“They [Ajax] are very satisfied with the guy and want to keep him, but Newcastle have been watching him for a long time and really want to sign him. This is the first offer Ajax have received for Vurnon and we’ll soon see how they react.”

“After next week, he will be back from holiday and I will meet people at Ajax with him and his dad,” he added.

“The only other Premier League club to get in touch was Norwich. Paul Lambert called me to ask about him. Now he has moved to Aston Villa, so maybe they will be in touch. I don’t know.”

Now I don't know about you but it sounds, to me anyway, as though his agent is hawking him around trying to drum up interest. I can't imagine the powers that be at Newcastle United would be too impressed that his agent has leaked details but then again I guess you can't keep everything quiet all of the time.

Anita started off his career at left-back although he only featured sparingly for Ajax in that role until an injury crisis forced Martin Jol to give him a regular starting berth in that position. It wasn't until Frank de Boer replaced Jol that Anita found his niche in the first team after being moved to midfield. In total, Vurnon has made 137 appearances for Ajax scoring seven goals along the way.

More speculation? Or genuine interest? Who knows???