Newcastle in pole position to sign Harvey Barnes from Leicester City

Newcastle currently holds the frontrunner position in the pursuit of Leicester City midfielder Harvey Barnes, according to reports published on both The Guardian and the Daily Mail on Wednesday, July 5.

Due to Leicester’s relegation, it is widely anticipated that Barnes will depart from the club in a combination of the player wanting out of a second-tier team and the organization just getting forced into a must-sell situation in order to keep up with the financial challenges they’ll be facing.

The asking price for Barnes from Leicester remains uncertain, with a wide range of fees reported by the aforementioned outlets. Leicester is coming off selling their best player, James Maddison, to Tottenham for £40m in what could have been a price-setter for Barnes.

Earlier reports indicated that Leicester would demand a rather-inflated £50m for Barnes, although after selling Maddison for a way lower fee there is a belief that Barnes might be available for £35m.

In any case, one thing is real, and—as the Maddison transfer proved—that’s the precarious negotiation position LCFC is in after getting relegated to the Championship, having little to no leverage when it comes to demanding huge transfer fees in exchange for their talents.

Newcastle, who are actively pursuing Southampton right-back Tino Livramento as well, could have an advantage in securing Barnes having qualified for the very appealing Champions League last season finishing fourth in the English Premier League. That, as well as Tottenham’s signing of Maddison of late, has seemingly left NUFC in the lead position to land Barnes with West Ham and Aston Villa as the two other clubs interested in the LCFC midfielder.

In a newsletter published on Thursday, July 6, Fabrizio Romano acknowledged the reports of Newcastle’s interest in Harvey Barnes, confirming that the Magpies are in pole position.

However, it should be noted that the situation is not currently at an advanced stage, according to the information obtained and reported by Romano.

The insider also confirmed that Tottenham inquired about Barnes around three weeks ago, but he revealed that after signing Maddison and also Manor Solomon they can be considered out of the race to acquire Barnes this summer.