An update has emerged regarding Newcastle United and their pursuit of Clement Lenglet heading into the summer transfer window... 

What's the talk?

According to Spanish outlet Sport, the Magpies are among a number of Premier League clubs interested in signing the French defender.

Tottenham, Arsenal and Everton are also said to be keen on him as all four clubs have enquired about a potential swoop to sign him from Camp Nou.

The report claims that Barcelona want a fee in the region of €15m (£13m) for his services but are aware that his wages may force them into sanctioning a loan deal.

PIF's first Newcastle error

PIF are heading for their first error in charge of the Magpies, as signing the Frenchman would be a disastrous move for the club.

He is an underperforming player and is reportedly on more than €10m (£8.5m) per season in wages, so it would be a huge financial commitment to make for a defender who has been in dreadful form over the last two years in Spain.

In the 2021/22 campaign, he averaged a dismal WhoScored rating of 6.30 across 21 appearances in La Liga, while he was called out for his behaviour in Europe.

After Barcelona's 3-0 loss to Bayern Munich in the group stage of the Champions League, which eliminated them from the competition, Spanish pundit Jota Jordi heavily criticised the defender for laughing at full-time.

He said: "By the way, Lenglet, if you see this, you have no shame. You have no shame. Because you're wearing a badge that represents millions of people. Today, we have cried. Today, we haven't been able to sleep. Today, we haven't had dinner.

"And you were laughing for a minute after the game ended. So you have no shame. If it were up to me, Lenglet wouldn't come back on the same plane. He'd come back walking. And when he gets to Barcelona, he has to go to the club offices to cancel his contract."

The Athletic's Liam Twomey previously described Lenglet's defending as "comically weak", and these comments on the centre-back do not paint the picture of a player who will be able to come in at St James' Park and make a positive impact on the Newcastle team.

His statistics in the season just gone also back that up and he did not produce much better in the 2020/21 campaign as he averaged a WhoScored rating of 6.59 in 33 league outings.

Lenglet would cost a significant amount of money to sign, given his valuation and wages, and his poor statistics for Barcelona indicate that it would be a big waste of funds from PIF. The Saudi Arabian consortium must avoid greenlighting any deal for the centre-back and move on to alternative targets in the upcoming transfer window.

AND in other news, PIF plotting NUFC bid for "tremendous" £30m "champion of the world", he's Ben Arfa 2.0...