NEWCASTLE are making progress in their push to snap up free agent Tosin Adarabioyo.
But SunSport understands other clubs, including Chelsea, are in the mix for the Fulham defender.
Tosin, 26, will leave the Cottagers after four years at the club when his contract expires next month.
The Manchester City academy product is one of the hottest freebies around — particularly in the age of profit and sustainability compliance.
Toon boss Eddie Howe has been keen on the centre-back for a long time, particularly with crocked Sven Botman facing a significant spell on the sidelines.
The Magpies have been leading the race but it is not a done deal yet.
Bournemouth’s out-of-contract Lloyd Kelly, 25, could be another option.
Howe wants to bolster the squad, so signing both defenders is not out of the question.
And central to his plans to increase the strength of his side for the 2024/25 season is fending off interest in his star players this summer.
Howe said: “It’s important (to keep best players). Good players are really difficult to find.
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“They’re very difficult to bring into any football club because there’s such a high premium for them.
“I think a lot of the players that we’ve brought in haven’t been ready-made to hit the ground running.
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Man City and Newcastle are both targetting £60m rated Pedro Neto this summer, according to reports.
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“There’s been a process to get them to the level they are now.
“So, that then means you need time, and that’s time you generally don’t have.
“It’s very much that in the modern day, there’s pressure all the time to keep improving and growing.
“That’s why it’s important to keep our best players.”
By Andy Dillon
CHELSEA’S longest serving manager under the club’s new owners has left by mutual consent.
The fact that Mauricio Pochettino lasted only 325 days underlines what a basket case of a club it has become.
You might expect a manager to lose his job after five games WITHOUT a win but only Chelsea could lose theirs after five wins on the spin.
When the supporters wrote an open letter to chairman Todd Boehly and his sidekick Behdad Eghbali in March, they expressed fears that their beloved Chelsea was becoming a ‘laughing stock on and off the pitch’.
It is way beyond that now with the departure of the manager who finally looked to be getting a tune out of a squad branded ‘£1billion bottle jobs’ just over two months ago as they crashed to defeat against Liverpool’s youth team in the Carabao Cup Final.
Read Andy Dillon’s full take on the sacking of Pochettino and what it means here.
