Sky Sports: French duo keen to join Wood & Trippier at NUFC - Club in talks to sign both
According to Sky Sports, Newcastle United are in talks to bring Reims striker Hugo Ekitike and Monaco centre-back Benoit Badiashile to the club.
Speaking on Sky Sports News just a few moments ago, reporter Dharmesh Sheth has also revealed that BOTH players are keen to make the move to St James' Park.
This comes after The Telegraph revealed just a few hours ago that we'd submitted a second bid for Sevilla's Diego Carlos, with it appearing as though we are keen to bring both him and Badiashile to the club; with the latter deemed to be our plan B now a move for Botman has stalled.
There were fears that an injury picked up on Sunday would end our interest in the 6ft 4' Frenchman, however Fabrizio Romano claims that he could be back within a fortnight.
As for Ekitike, Sky Sports claim that talks are ongoing with Reims over a deal worth £25m, stating there is currently a 'small gap' between their valuation and the money we're prepared to offer.
Here's what Sheth said on SSN just moments ago:
"Talks are still ongoing between the two clubs.
"There's still a will to get this deal done. It's worth around €30m (£25m) - that's €27m (£22.5m) upfront, with add-ons making it around €30m (£25m)."
That said, they insist that Newcastle would have no interest in loaning the 19-year-old back to the Ligue 1 side for the rest of the season, saying we rate him so highly that he'd go straight into Howe's squad.
He has scored eight goals in 17 games this season, making him the top scoring teenager in any of Europe's big five leagues for 2021/22.
Sky Sports also report that a five-year-deal would be on the table for Ekitike, with Wood expected to sign a two-and-a-half year deal once he's passed his medical at the club.
