Newcastle United closing in on £25.6m deal as Eddie Howe walks away
Newcastle United head coach Eddie Howe has responded to claims the club are pushing to secure a fifth summer signing this week.
Newcastle United are closing in on a deal to sign Braga goalkeeper Lukas Hornicek.
The 24-year-old Czech international has been subject to plenty of transfer interest this summer due to his £25.6million release clause at the Portuguese club.
Claims Newcastle have triggered the clause have been played down, but The Gazette understands that the club are confident of striking a deal with Hornicek before their next friendly match against Valencia on August 8.
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Newly-promoted Hull City are also interested in Hornicek, but it is thought the goalkeeper would prefer a move to St James’ Park where he would stake a claim for the No. 1 spot. This comes after long-term goalkeeper target James Trafford agreed terms with Leeds United over a £40million move from Manchester City.
Following the departures of Aaron Ramsdale and John Ruddy this summer, Newcastle have already signed one goalkeeper. 20-year-old Ewen Jaouen joined from Stade de Reims for £18million at the start of the transfer window.
Jaouen started Newcastle’s 4-1 defeat at Bristol City on Wednesday night before being replaced by Nick Pope at half-time.
Hornicek’s potential arrival could spell the end of Pope’s time at Newcastle after four years. As reported by The Gazette earlier this summer, the 34-year-old has been made available to leave Newcastle this summer.
After initial interest from Ipswich Town, there has been limited interest in the goalkeeper who has less than a year left on his contract at St James’ Park.
But when asked directly about Hornicek after the Bristol City friendly, Newcastle head coach Eddie Howe distanced himself from the story prior to the news of his upcoming exit from the club.
“Yes, I'm not on top of that, unfortunately,” he said. “So that'll be [a question] for someone else.”
Although Howe largely refrained from answering the question, he didn’t shut it down as he has done with certain transfer links in the past.