The Daily Mail are claiming that Newcastle are ‘preparing to launch an £8m bid’ for Kris Ajer!
It is almost certain that the defender will leave Celtic this summer but it is equally certain that he won’t be going to Newcastle and the fee will be notably more than £8m.
A year ago Ajer was being linked with AC Milan and while that story has rumbled on the landscape has changed dramatically with the defender approaching the final year of his Celtic contract.
Newcastle are presently two points clear of relegation with Steve Bruce under intense pressure from fans as he stumbles through another underwhelming season.
With Mike Ashley in charge of the club a move to St James’ Park is hardly a stable career decision, following the well-trodden path to Southampton would surely be much more appealing to Ajer.
The Daily Mail reports:
Newcastle are preparing to launch an £8million bid to sign Celtic defender Kristoffer Ajer. The Norway international has one year left on contract and has been urged to leave this summer by national team manager Stale Solbakken.
Celtic value Ajer highly but the 22-year old will be free to talk to foreign and cross-border clubs from January. That has weakened Celtic’s bargaining power and they face losing him for a fraction of what they had hoped for.
Ajer joined Celtic in the spring of 2016, soon after Brendan Rodgers took charge he was switched from central midfield to central defence where he spent half a season on loan at Kilmarnock.
Returning to Celtic in July 2017 he started to make in-roads into the first team and has been a regular for the last three seasons.
With just over a year left on his deal and no sign of talks over a new contract Celtic will almost certainly be looking to sell the 22-year-old in the summer rather than allow Ajer to run down his contract.
