James Maddison has “discussed Newcastle” with Kieran Trippier

Newcastle United and Kieran Trippier in particular have started their recruiting process ahead of next summer and the 2023/24 season that will see the Magpies compete in the UEFA Champions League.

One of the long-time-chased targets by manager Eddie Howe and football director Dan Ashworth, Leicester City midfielder and England international James Maddison might be closer than ever than joining Newcastle.

According to Mark Douglas of iNews, Kieran Trippier has taken advantage of the international camps staged by the Three Lions in the past (December at the World Cup and March for a couple of Euro 2024 Qualifiers) to try and convince the relegation-bound player to sign with NUFC this summer after Newcastle submits an official bid to LCFC to purchase him once the transfer window opens in July.

The same outlet revealed in March that Maddison “had no intention of re-signing for Leicester,” which now makes even more sense considering the Foxes' precarious situation entering Sunday’s last slate of Premier League games and the huge probability of the club going down to the Championship.

Douglas reported on Friday, May 26th that Maddison has “discussed the club with Kieran Trippier on international duty” in the past, and they will meet once more in mid-June when England senior-team members will be playing two more qualifier games against Malta and North Macedonia.

Back in Christmas, we already reported some rumors linking Maddison to the Magpies, with the first whispers coming as early as last summer when there was interest in the midfielder by Newcastle although a move for the England international never materialized.

With the second half of the season still to play and Brendan Rodgers at the helm of Leicester, the then-sacked manager of the Foxes correctly predicted that Maddison “will remain” in Leicester for the upcoming months, which surely happened.

That spell might be coming to an end, though, with Leicester getting (most probably) relegated this weekend and Maddison expected to explore alternatives to avoid playing second-tier football next season and beyond.

Truth be told, everybody (yours included) would also be interested in flipping Championship football for Champions League football. Wouldn’t you, too?