'Recent days' - NUFC in talks for £20.7m-rated colossus; had best aerial success rate in Europe

Newcastle United have made contact with Fiorentina over exit-bound centre-back Nikola Milenkovic, according to Calciomercato (via Sport Witness).

Milenkovic is approaching five years at Fiorentina, having joined from Partizan Belgrade in the summer of 2017.

But the 24-year-old is now well into the final 18 months of his deal at La Viola.

The 6 foot 3 defender, reportedly the subject of interest from Tottenham Hotspur, Wolves and West Ham United in 2021, is valued at £20.7million by Transfermarkt.

Newcastle did add a centre-back to their ranks in January, paying Brighton and Hove Albion £13.5million for Dan Burn.

The report (via SW) states that Fiorentina have ‘had contact‘ with Newcastle over Milenkovic in ‘recent days‘.

The club have made a ‘pact’ with the Serbian, whereby he can leave if a ‘fair offer’ arrives. It therefore ‘seems almost obvious’ that he will depart at the end of the campaign.

Newcastle, though, do face competition from two Serie A giants in the form of Juventus and AC Milan.

Juve have apparently been tracking him for ‘some time’, while Milan have already formalised their interest.

When you look at Milenkovic, what stands most out is his ability in the air. He wins 3.6 aerial duels per 90 minutes, which ranks him in the 86th percentile among positional peers in the top five European leagues (via FBRef).

In fact, of all the players who contested 100 or more in those competitions in 2020/21, he had the best success rate (via WhoScored).

Indeed, he could be a dominant presence at the heart of The Magpies’ backline for a number of years.

We’ll have to see if the allure of joining PIF’s hugely ambitious project, and of playing in the Premier League, is enough for them to see off the Italian competition.

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