Aladji Bamba clause goes public as Newcastle strike deal with Monaco

Newcastle United are closing in on their fourth signing of the summer after agreeing a £34m fee with Monaco for Aladji Bamba.

After Newcastle moved to sign Ajax midfielder Sean Steur behind the backs of prying eyes, they've repeated the feat with the acquisition of Aladji Bamba.

As with Steur, the news around the Bamba deal didn't hit the headlines until he was already preparing to fly to Newcastle for his medical.

Things moved so quickly that the deal was announced by local media while I was wrapping up my report on the rumour.

Monaco have a sell-on clause in Bamba agreement

It's believed that Newcastle have reached a €40 million (£34 million) agreement with Monaco for the 20-year-old defensive midfielder.

According to Fabrizio Romano, the deal will also contain a 15% sell-on clause for Monaco.

"Understand Aladji Bamba deal between AS Monaco and Newcastle also includes a 15% sell-on clause."

Bamba may need to put on a bit of muscle

If everything goes smoothly, Bamba will become Newcastle's fourth summer signing after Ewen Jaouen, Bazoumana Toure and Sean Steur, and he will also streak of signing players aged 20 and under alive.

We expect that Bamba will be brought in for the first team, and potentially the starting XI, along with Bazoumana Toure, while Steur and Jaouen are backups for the first team.

There are a few concerns that Bamba may need to pack on a bit of beef to hold up to the more physical challenge of the Premier League, but looking at his figures for duels last season, he'll do just fine in the meantime.