PIF "won't give up" on NUFC deal for £25m machine, he'd be Howe's very own de Ligt - opinion

An update has emerged on Newcastle‘s pursuit of Sven Botman heading into the summer transfer window… 

Journalist Pete O’Rourke has backed PIF to keep trying to secure a deal to sign the Dutch machine in the coming weeks, despite AC Milan currently leading the race for his signature.

He told GIVEMESPORT: “You’d probably say Milan might have the edge in this one, but I’m sure he’s somebody Newcastle won’t give up on because they tried really hard in January, so he’s still going to be high on their transfer target list.”

90min recently reported that Milan are hoping to strike an agreement to land Botman by the end of this week but it appears as though Newcastle are not going to let them get away without a fight.

By ousting the Serie A club to sign the £25m defender, the Magpies head coach would be signing his own version of Juventus enforcer de Ligt.

FB Ref list the Old Lady gem as the most similar player to Botman in Europe’s top five leagues over the last 365 days and that is a glowing endorsement of his quality.

De Ligt burst onto the scene at Ajax as a teenager and has played now three full Serie A seasons for Juventus by the age of 22 – averaging a SofaScore rating of at least 6.95 in all three campaigns.

In 2021/22, the Dutchman averaged a rating of 7.07 across 31 appearances. He won 62% of his duels and made 1.9 tackles and interceptions per game as he consistently showcased his defensive quality at the back for the Italian giants.

Meanwhile, Botman was catching the eye in Ligue 1 as he also proved that he can perform to a high level on a regular basis in a major European league…

These statistics suggest that he performed to a similar level as the Juventus defender, backing up the FB Ref comparison between the two