Over the past 10 days, it’s been public knowledge that Newcastle United have stepped up their interest in Brighton’s Joao Pedro.
The Telegraph revealed two Saturday’s ago that we were are in contact with Brighton over a deal, while Luke Edwards’ Monday update stated that formal talks are taking place over a deal which Newcastle hoped to concluded ‘quickly.’
He reported that Newcastle were ‘growing in confidence’ that a deal could be struck in the region of £60m, but it remains to be seen if things may have changed following today’s development.
After talkSPORT claimed earlier today that Newcastle were fearful of a rival bid from Chelsea to hijack our pursuit of the Brazilian, it seems the free-spending Blues really are in the mix.
This comes after an update from Fabrizio Romano this afternoon, which reveals that Chelsea have shortlisted the Brighton forward as a summer target, claiming the London side are keeping a close eye on his situation.
Romano does state that Newcastle ‘approached Brighton this week’ over a deal, but the mood on social media is one of concern given previous attempts to sign Liam Delap and Bryan Mbeumo saw us outmuscles financially by our ‘big six’ rivals.
Writing on X, Romano said: ‘Understand Chelsea have Brighton’s João Pedro as one of the targets on their shortlist for this summer, highly appreciated.
‘Initial contacts took place to be informed on situation, as João can leave this summer. Newcastle already approached Brighton this week.’
