Yasin Ayari being monitored by Newcastle United after impressive World Cup debut
Newcastle United are likely to be in the market for a new central midfielder or two this summer, especially as it looks like Sandro Tonali is on his way out of the club.
Sandro Tonali is being hunted by Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City, and while Newcastle have already rejected an £80 million bid for the Italian from Spurs, we expect this is far from the end of the story.
Regardless of Tonali's future, though, Newcastle are hunting for more midfield options, it seems, after reports have linked the Magpies with Brighton and Hove Albion's Sweden international midfielder, Yasin Ayari.
Ayari made a flying start to his World Cup campaign, scoring two goals in Sweden's 5-1 win over Tunisia in their first game of the World Cup. He wasn't able to hit the same heights on Saturday as the Netherlands battered the Swedes 5-1, with Ayari missing a couple of big chances along the way.
Newcastle are monitoring Yasin Ayari's situation
Initially, reports came from Football Insider that Newcastle were looking at Ayari, so we ignored the claims, but now The Daily Mail has claimed that Newcastle are 'closely monitoring' his situation.
Ayari bagged three goals and three assists for Brighton last season in 29 appearances in the Premier League. Not exactly prolific, but still solid. Solid enough that he's now attracting interest from Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester United in England and Atletico Madrid and AC Milan too.
That is some strong competition for the 22-year-old who has just 12 months remaining on his Brighton contract.
Ayari is interesting, but we're not convinced there's much to it
Yasin Ayari is definitely an interesting prospect, but so much feels stacked against Newcastle on this one. The Premier League competition for his signature alone is fierce, and he's got good options to move abroad too.
Not only that, but even with only a year left on his deal, Brighton will be able to extract a good price for his services. Nobody negotiates like Tony Bloom. Brighton are masters at squeezing profit from their players.
Given that Newcastle were only described as 'monitoring' Ayari in the Mail's article, we don't feel there's a great deal of interest here. At least he's not a priority.
If Tonali is sold, though, that could soon change.
Rumour Rating: 6/10 - We're still cautious that the story started as a Football Insider exclusive. Also, there's way too much competition and moving parts before it becomes realistic.
