Snak

Earlier today, The Telegraph announced that Newcastle had reached a £28m deal with Chelsea over highly-rated left-back Lewis Hall.

A few hours later, an update has emerged from Nizaar Kinsella – a Chelsea correspondent for the London Evening Standard.

He reports that Newcastle are pushing to sign Hall on a loan-to-buy basis, with an initial loan that includes an obligation to buy next summer a more favourable deal from an FFP perspective.

Kinsella adds that the final fee could be anywhere between £28m and £35m, depending how the deal is structured and the add-ons agreed.

Either way, there’s now an ‘expectation’ the deal gets done after Chelsea U-turned on their ‘not for sale’ stance, with Newcastle now negotiating the finer details of the move and structure of payments; something that may be key to enable further spending in the final two weeks of the window.

However, the Blues seem to have turned their attention to another really exciting young forward who’s proven in the English top flight.

Johnson would certainly be a good shout for Mauricio Pochettino’s Chelsea. He is extremely talented, has a high ceiling, and is proven in the Premier League.

Total Football Analysis described the 22-year-old as a “complete” forward.

Earlier this year, The Mirror reported how Johnson clocked up the fastest speed in the Premier League in 2022/23 as of 30 March.

Indeed, he was deemed to have hit a top speed faster than that of Chelsea speedster Mykhaylo Mudryk.