Newcastle United closing in on second January signing ahead of Leeds after ‘done deal’ reports

Real Valladolid right-back Ivan Fresneda is close to joining Newcastle United according to reports from Spain. Journalist Fernando Kallas told Sky Sports that the 18-year-old has already said goodbye to his teammates with a move to Newcastle 'fairly a done deal’.

Kallas said: “He’s 18-year-old and he made a very good game over the weekend. He neutralised Vinicius Junior when Real Madrid played Valladolid. I heard the coach and his team-mates are already saying goodbye to him because it’s fairly a done deal that he’s going to Newcastle.

“He had conversations with Real Madrid and Barcelona. He’s a very young player, he’s been in the Spanish national team under-18s and under-17s too. He’s going to be a good player and he’s another example of how the Premier League are just dominating the market going after players in the big five leagues. It’s almost unfair right now.”

Newcastle have been monitoring the 18-year-old with head of recruitment Steve Nickson spotted sat next to the player’s agent Luis Bardaji during Real Valladolid's 2-0 defeat against Real Madrid last week.

A proposed bid in the region of €10-15m (£8.8-£13.2m) has been reported. Fresneda’s release clause is understood to be around £26.6m at Valladolid but that would rise to almost £40million if the club were to reject an offer of more than £9million.

Reports from Spain have also claimed that five other Premier League clubs are interested in the teenage right-back with Leeds United, Arsenal, Wolverhampton Wanderers and Fulham all being publicly linked. It has also been touted that Newcastle could sign the player and loan him to Valladolid for the remainder of the 2022-23 campaign.

The teenager only made his La Liga debut in September but has already caught the eye of various clubs including Borussia Dortmund, Juventus and AC Milan.

Magpies boss Eddie Howe is keen to strengthen his options at right-back with 32-year-old Kieran Trippier currently first choice ahead of Javier Manquillo and Emil Krafth ruled out for the majority of the season with an ACL injury. West Ham United’s 21-year-old right-back Harrison Ashby has also been strongly linked to a move to St James's Park this month after a failed deadline day move in the summer.