Newcastle United are back in talks to sign full-back Mitchel Bakker from Bayer Leverkusen this January, 90min understands.
Eddie Howe’s side have been on the hunt for a left-back this month, but have seen targets like Lucas Digne and Robin Gosens all sign for other clubs – the former for Aston Villa, the latter for Inter.
Despite interest in these players, we understand that Bakker has always been the Magpies’ number one left-back target throughout the current transfer window. The club had backed away from discussions on Monday as they did not believe the player was interested in the move. Now however, 90min have been told that the transfer is back on.
We understand that Bayer Leverkusen are keen on selling Bakker to Newcastle, and L’Equipe are now reporting that the club are offering €20m for the player.
Bakker is a Netherlands under-21 international and signed for Leverkusen from PSG in the summer – putting pen to paper on a four-year deal. Since then he has made 13 appearances for the Bundesliga club, who sit third in the league table. PSG have a buyback clause inserted in his contract, but it is unlikely that they’d be willing to take up this offer.
Due to the reopening of negotiations for Bakker, the talks to sign Rogeiro – which we reported earlier on Wednesday – are now on hold. They are, however, not called off completely. Sassuolo want roughly €18m for the Brazilian.
Along with Bakker and Rogeiro, the Magpies had also been interested in Genk defender Gerardo Arteaga.