Newcastle REJECT rival Prem bid for Joe Willock – but links with SIX midfielders could unlock sale | OneFootball

Newcastle United have turned down a bid from Fulham for Joe Willock, with the value, his stance on the move and why the decision was made revealed.

Willock will celebrate five years as a Newcastle player on Sunday, but his time with the club could be coming to an end. It has just emerged that Fulham are showing interest in taking the former Arsenal midfielder back to London.

In fact, Fulham have gone so far as to lodge a bid for the 26-year-old. That’s according to Ben Jacobs, who posted just after 11am on his X account that Newcastle have rejected the offer.

Fulham’s offer was worth £20m, which is £5m less than Newcastle paid Arsenal to sign him permanently in the summer of 2021 after his loan spell.

Willock is into the final 18 months of his contract with Newcastle, so the fee itself seems a reasonable one, especially when he has only started two Premier League games this season.

However, Newcastle’s main reason for turning down the bid wasn’t a financial one. Jacobs clarified that they wouldn’t be willing to sanction his departure unless they were able to secure a replacement.

Bruno Guimaraes has been an injury doubt in Newcastle’s midfield recently, so they need to ensure they have appropriate depth to support the likes of him, Sandro Tonali and Joelinton.

Summer signing Jacob Ramsey and academy graduate Lewis Miley are the other midfielders on their books at the moment.

However, they have been doing work on a range of potential midfield targets, so if they can make progress on any of those fronts, perhaps it could unlock Willock’s move.

After all, Jacobs claims Willock is ‘keen’ on the move to Fulham.

Six midfielders on Newcastle radar

Throughout the January transfer window, TEAMtalk’s correspondents have been reporting on the midfielders on Newcastle’s radar.

One option Graeme Bailey has revealed they have done a lot of work on is Atalanta’s Ederson, who is also admired by Atletico Madrid.

Furthermore, they have been in the background of Wolves’ pursuit of Marseille’s Angel Gomes, and could consider rivalling Tottenham for Nottingham Forest’s Morgan Gibbs-White in the summer.

TEAMtalk’s Fraser Fletcher has also named AZ’s Kees Smit as one to watch for the Magpies thanks to his long-term potential, while Al Hilal’s Ruben Neves could be considered if the opportunity is right, despite his profile falling outside the age bracket Newcastle usually invest in.