Report: Newcastle United and AC Milan are getting close to finalizing an agreement that would allow them to sign a central defender….

Newcastle United are closing in on striking a deal with AC Milan which will see them sign central defender Malick Thiaw, according to a report.

There has been intense speculation over the past couple of weeks regarding Thiaw’s future at Milan and Newcastle are the team that have been linked most insistently with the German.

According to HITC, the Magpies are ‘close to finalising a deal’ for Thiaw after talks were held over the weekend that brought the two clubs closer to a meeting point.

Milan are set to sign Strahinja Pavlovic from Red Bull Salzburg who, as per the report, is ‘a player that Newcastle United also liked’, and that will likely mean the green light arrives for Thiaw to leave.

There is a ‘broad agreement over personal terms now in place’ between the Premier League side and Thiaw, with the transfer fee likely to be in the £35m range, which is around €41m at the current conversion rate.

That figure would constitute a huge capital gain for Milan who signed him for €8.5m from Schalke in the summer of 2022 according to Transfermarkt. Whether the management would then move for a replacement given that s also left remains to be seen.Simon Kjaer