Newcastle Set To Entice £15m Dutch Midfielder To Tyneside With £60,000-A-Week Offer

NUFC are confident they will win the race for Georginio Wijnaldum.

By Chris Waugh /

Newcastle United are confident they will be able to complete a deal for PSV Eindhoven midfielder Georginio Wijnaldum this week and are prepared to offer the Dutchman £60,000-a-week in order to complete the transfer. The Magpies are poised to beat Manchester United, Paris Saint-Germain and their bitter rivals Sunderland to the signature of Dutch international Wijnaldum - but they may need to pay £15 million-plus to secure the deal. Newcastle remain confident they can entice the 24-year-old to St James' Park due to their extensive connections in Holland, as well as their willingness to pay Wijnaldum £60,000 a week, whatculture.com/nufc understand.
Last month Wijnaldum flirted with the possibility of joining PSG, while Man Utd boss Louis van Gaal is known to be a huge fan, but it appears that Newcastle will complete a £15 million move for the midfielder - if they are willing to stump up the cash to PSV. Advanced talks are ongoing between the Magpies and the Dutch club and an agreement is close - with Wijnaldum potentially flying to Tyneside later this week to undergo a medical if the discussions prove fruitful. In fact, Wijnaldum did not appear during PSV's pre-season friendly against SV Dosko - and was not even included in the matchday squad as speculation about his future intensifies. Reports had claimed that the Black Cats had launched an £11 million bid for Wijnaldum last month, only for those to be rubbished - before suggestions were made that Sunderland were not actually interested in the midfielder at all. Wijnaldum has already been capped 18 times by Holland, scoring twice, and is regarded as one of the most-promising players in Europe due to the fact he has a habit of regularly finding the back of the net. Both Newcastle and Sunderland would hope to negotiate down the £15 million fee, with Liverpool also interested, but if PSG and Man Utd do up their pursuit of Wijnaldum then the bidding process could go through the roof. Wijnaldum has already won three trophies with PSV and has made 152 appearances, scoring an impressive 56 times from midfield and contributing 23 assists, since moving there from Feyenoord in 2011. The midfielder also netted for Holland during the 3-0 third-place play-off win over Brazil at last year€™s World Cup. For all the latest NUFC News, Views and Transfers make sure to follow whatculture.com/NUFC on Twitter and Facebook.