Sources: Newcastle make concrete Fikayo Tomori proposal
Newcastle United have made a concrete proposal to AC Milan defender Fikayo Tomori, sources have told Football Insider.
The 28-year-old has just one year remaining on his contract at San Siro and will be available for a cut-price deal.
Football Insider first revealed Newcastle's interest in Tomori earlier this year and updated a week ago that the north-east giants are favourites ahead of Coventry City to land the defender.
Now, United have accelerated their pursuit of the player and discussed a package to entice him to St James' Park.
The former Chelsea centre-back made 37 appearances across all competitions last season, reaching over 200 appearances with the Italian giants.
Tomori has been a target for Newcastle for a number of years, and would be capable of challenging for a starting role in Eddie Howe's backline.
Business between the Magpies and AC Milan has been relatively common in recent years, with both Sandro Tonali and Malick Thiaw making the switch in the last three years.
Tomori could now be the next, with an opening proposal reportedly being prepared for the coming days.
Fikayo Tomori was praised by Paolo Maldini
Tomori began his career at the Chelsea academy, enjoying loans to Brighton, Hull City and Derby County, before he was finally granted a chance.
Frank Lampard, who had taken him to Derby, was appointed by the Blues and deployed the young defender for much of the early part of his opening season.
Injuries and poor form got in the way for the England international, however, and he would eventually go on loan to AC Milan in the following January after failing to get in the team.
The Italian side spent £24million to make the move permanent, and Tomori has been a key man at San Siro ever since.
Speaking in 2021 after signing for AC Milan, he revealed that the great Paolo Maldini, who made over 900 appearances for the club and is widely recognised among the best defenders of all time, was left impressed by him.
"My agent told me Milan wanted to speak to me and he asked me if I knew who the technical director is,” said Tomori. “He said it was Paolo Maldini and I was like: ‘Oh’.
“Obviously I wasn’t going to say no, so I said: 'Yeah let’s talk for sure.' And then we had a scheduled Zoom call and he was just there on the screen in front of me. It was like: 'Whoa'.
"He spoke English to me perfectly and it was surreal, it was strange. I got off the call and I was thinking: ‘Wow, I’ve just spoken to Paolo Maldini’. The only thing I needed to think about was moving to another country, but, other than that, I was sold on it.
"Maldini’s at the training ground every day. After games as well and he will always say: ‘Congratulations, well done’. Even if it’s just a passing comment or a ‘well done’, the fact I’m a defender and it’s come from him, it fills you with pride. It’s like Lionel Messi saying well done to a young attacker. It’s special.”
Could Tomori displace Newcastle defenders?
Newcastle's willingness to sign a centre-back is logical, despite the lack of European football at St James' Park next season.
Sven Botman has had countless injury problems since his 2022 move from Lille and has failed to prove his reliability, despite his quality.
Fabian Schar and Dan Burn share those injury issues, although at the ages of 34, they are more easily explained.
Thiaw is the only Newcastle centre-back to have escaped last season injury-free, and he may well be joined by his former teammate.
The pair have featured together 51 times, with AC Milan maintaining a strong 2.00 points per game tally across those fixtures.
Those numbers will not be ignored by Howe, who may well with to reunite Tomori with the German.