Newcastle end centre-back hunt with £35m Malick Thiaw deal and close on Yoane Wissa

Newcastle’s longstanding quest for a right-sided centre-back appears to be over after they agreed a £35m deal with Milan for their Germany defender Malick Thiaw.

The 24-year-old flew to north-east England on Sunday night and was undergoing a medical on Monday. Before leaving Italy, Thiaw said: “Newcastle? I am happy with the choice. I’m ready for the Premier League.”

Although Milan had wanted to keep Thiaw, the 6ft 4in defender, who will provide strong competition for Fabian Schär but can also operate at right-back and as a defensive midfielder, pushed hard to be allowed to join Newcastle.

Thiaw’s arrival ends Newcastle’s interest in Crystal Palace’s England defender Marc Guéhi, the uncertainty over Alexander Isak’s future as the Sweden striker continues to agitate to be allowed to join Liverpool dictates Newcastle are stepping up their striker hunt.

A deal for Brentford’s centre-forward Yoane Wissa is expected to be concluded this week and Newcastle have also enquired about the availability of the Porto striker Samu Aghehowa. The 21-year scored 27 goals in 45 appearances last season and is understood to have a €100m (£86.6m) release clause.

Isak is expected to continue to train separately from his teammates. Howe, who said he only wants players who “really want to play for this football club”, has indicated last season’s leading scorer will have no part in Saturday’s match at Aston Villa.

West Ham are preparing an opening bid for the Southampton midfielder Mateus Fernandes. Graham Potter is looking to add energy and creativity in midfield but is yet to make summer additions there.

West Ham are assessing a number of midfielders, including Aston Villa’s Jacob Ramsey and Lille’s Ngal’ayel Mukau, and have identified Fernandes as their top target. Fernandes joined Southampton from Sporting Lisbon for £15m last summer and is expected to leave after the club’s relegation. He could cost about £30m.

View image in fullscreen Mateus Fernandes made a substitute appearance for Southampton against Wrexham on Saturday. Photograph: Graham Hunt/ProSports/Shutterstock

The 21-year-old Portuguese caught the eye last season and is not short of interest but West Ham are optimistic a deal will be struck. Southampton will want to make a big profit on Fernandes, who came off the bench in Saturday’s opening 2-1 win over Wrexham.

skip past newsletter promotion Sign up to Football Daily Free daily newsletter Kick off your evenings with the Guardian's take on the world of football Enter your email address Sign up Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Privacy Policy . We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. after newsletter promotion

West Ham have tracked Fernandes for more than a year. They were interested last summer but decided to go for other options.

Potter came into this window hoping to sign at least two midfielders. However West Ham, who have also tracked Werder Bremen’s Romano Schmid, have a limited budget and may need a sale before pursuing targets beyond Fernandes. They have struggled to find buyers for Guido Rodríguez and Edson Álvarez.

Potter has switched to 3-4-2-1 and used James Ward-Prowse and the academy product Freddie Potts as his midfield duo in West Ham’s friendly against Lille last Saturday.

West Ham have been priced out of a move for Liverpool’s Harvey Elliott and did not act on interest in Tyler Morton before the England Under-21 midfielder joined Lyon.

Click here to read article