Newcastle could pull a deal for Chilean international

The Newcastle United transfer dealings have slowed to a crawl since they made a flurry of signings over the past two weeks. That's not shocking now that the team is in camp all the way in New Zealand, but rumors still of course crop up. The latest rumor, which speculates that a move is imminent, links the Magpies with Chilean international Mauricio Isla.

Isla has played right back for Juventus the past few seasons and was a fixture in Chile's surprising World Cup squad. Chilean paper El Mercurio reported that a fee had been agreed between Juventus and Newcastle for his services.

It's an odd report, considering Newcastle just signed Daryl Janmaat who also plays right back and is two years younger, but in some regard it makes sense.

Isla is still only 26 years old, so he's still in that age range where Mike Ashley can still make money with a sell-on of Isla after a few seasons, similar to what happened with Mathieu Debuchy. Isla can also play on the right wing as a pseudo defensive winger, which would allow Janmaat to bomb forward. Outside of Yohan Gouffron, the right wing is another area of need for Newcastle. He'd obviously also provide cover at right back, something that is also need since Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa currently seems to be the primary backup at that spot.

The reported fee is £8 million, which also falls right in line with how Newcastle have been spending this transfer window.

All in all however, the report seems sketchy at best. The local media who cover Newcastle have squashed the report, but it still persists in other outlets.