Sky Germany: Newcastle's bid to sign Bundesliga star derailed after video call

With European football guaranteed for next season and a healthy transfer budget to spend, we could be seeing some big names linked with a move to Newcastle in the coming weeks.

From rising stars and domestic talent like Liam Delap, to Champions League players like Bayern's Kim Min-Jae, it’s a sign of just how far we’ve come as a club that we can poach top players from across the continent.

And according to a recent report, we’ve recently held discussions with a top German international, but a move for him is looking unlikely any time soon…

Newcastle eye Nico Schlotterbeck

According to Sky Germany's Patrick Berger, Newcastle United have held discussions with Borussia Dortmund and Germany star Nico Schlotterbeck over a potential move.

Having missed out on the defender’s signature when he was at Freiburg, it seems we’ve held some interest in the 25-year-old for a number of seasons now.

When it came to the summer of 2022, Schlotterbeck opted for a move to Dortmund, whilst we instead secured Sven Botman from Lille.

Berger states that our initial discussions with Schlotterbeck were held back at the beginning of April over video call, suggesting he was an option in our ongoing hunt for a new centre-back this summer.

Serious injury ends interest for now?

Sadly for Newcastle, who had been doing some groundwork over a deal earlier this month, move for Schlotterbeck could be off the cards for this summer at least.

The defender suffered a torn meniscus earlier this month, notably after Newcastle discussions with him, and is projected to be out until October.

There's also internal belief with Dortmund that Schlotterbeck, who has been one of the stars of their otherwise-mixed campaign, will remain with the club for the foreseeable future, with the German in no rush to depart the Bundesliga giants.

With talks of a potential contract extension at Die Schwarzgelben on the cards, he could soon become the highest-paid player at the club, something which we would have to factor in should be make a future attempt to sign the defender.