Newcastle United target set for medical as £21m transfer agreed - 'accepted' Liverpool offer in 2023

Juventus have agreed a £21million deal with the Ligue 1 side for the 23-year-old midfielder. Thuram has agreed a five-year contract at Juventus with documents exchanged on Wednesday and a medical arranged.

Transfer expert Fabrizio Romano has declared the deal ‘confirmed’ with his ‘here we go’ catchphrase.

This comes a year on from Thuram being subject to serious transfer interest from Liverpool. In 2023, the midfielder was valued at £52million by Nice and reportedly verbally agreed personal terms to complete a move to Anfield.

This was later played down by the club, who ended up signing Wataru Endō, Dominik Szoboszlai and Alexis Mac Allister to bolster their midfield instead.

Newcastle also displayed a keen interest in Thuram with head of recruitment Steve Nickson monitoring the player at Nice during the 2022-23 campaign. The Magpies even got a first-hand look at the player at St James’ Park as he played for Nice in the Sela Cup last August.

But a year on and with Thuram into the final year of his contract, Nice were under pressure to sell him at a cut-price rate or risk losing him for nothing next summer.

The one-time French international was born in Italy and is the son of former Juventus defender Lilian Thuram and brother of current Inter Milan and France striker Marcus Thuram.

While Newcastle retained an interest in Thuram during the 2023-24 season, they refrained from making a move for the player this summer. The Magpies will welcome Sandro Tonali back from a 10-month suspension next month while Bruno Guimaraes and Joelinton have been tied down to new long-term deals at the club.