Jean-Philippe Mateta to join Newcastle?

Newcastle United have made a bid for Crystal Palace attacker Jean-Philippe Mateta as the Toon Army appear to have missed out on a transfer deal for Brentford forward Yoann Wissa. Mateta helped Palace to the Community Shield and FA Cup silverware last season, and the 28-year-old has been lined up as a replacement to Alexander Isak, who will likely move to Liverpool before the end of the transfer window.

It is more bad news for Crystal Palace fans, who could lose Eberechi Eze, Adam Wharton and Marc Guehi this summer. Mateta is hugely popular at Selhurst Park, having made 116 appearances in the Premier League since joining from Mainz 05 in 2022, scoring 36 top flight goals. The Frenchman is said to be ready for a new challenge, and indicated that he would like to move to St James' Park. 

Newcastle had made an offer of £30 million that has already been rejected by Palace co-owner Steve Parish, as the club want at the very least £40 million. There are early suggestions that Mateta is willing to stay at Palace as they compete in Europe for the first time in their history, but would expect a significant raise on his current salary at Palace.