2 days ago
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Liverpool's quest to secure a long-term successor for Virgil van Dijk has suffered a setback after Newcastle's transfer chief Ross Wilson announced that Sven Botman will be presented with a fresh contract offer.
The Reds are actively seeking a new center-back following Van Dijk's concerning drop in form. After missing out on Marc Guehi during the summer, they have been reportedly interested in Dutch defender Botman, whose Newcastle deal expires in just 18 months.
But the Magpies are resolved to retain their prized assets and are readying new proposals for both Botman, who has also caught Chelsea's attention, and Manchester City target Tino Livramento, having already secured Sandro Tonali with an extended deal.
As quoted by Chronicle Live, Newcastle's sporting director Ross Wilson said: "My first three or four days in the job was when I found that Sandro's contract situation was significantly better than the one I was expecting.
"My first days were about analyzing contracts – where are we, where are we strong, where are we weak, where have we got issues? It's no secret at all that we would want to extend Tino's contract, and we would want to extend Sven Botman's contract, too.
"Those discussions are ongoing. Some discussions are more difficult than others, but the desire would be to keep those players. Will they agree to those contracts? At the moment, I think it's too early to say."
As the January window approaches, Wilson also addressed Newcastle's recruitment strategy for 2026, though he confirmed that no major decisions have been finalized internally as he awaits discussions with Eddie Howe regarding the Toon boss's requirements.
The former Rangers chief explained: "Basically, where we're at right now is that Eddie and I haven't spoken about what January looks like in terms of incomings. What we've talked about is what the thoughts are about the squad right now.
"Where's his head at with the squad we've already got? How does that look? How does he feel about that, the shape, the size of it? Individuals? That's what we've spoken about up to now.
"The scouting work is always ongoing. So, the guys are doing loads of work with that all the time."
Newcastle splashed out around $330 million last summer after enduring a series of barren and PSR-restricted transfer windows. Nevertheless, despite their enormous summer outlay, there are no major constraints facing the upcoming transfer window.
Wilson continued: "Can we spend in January? I think it's fairly obvious to everybody, given the level of club spend in the summer, that we're not going to do that again in the winter window as well, for a variety of reasons. But if we want to spend, we can. Of course, we'll be creative, of course, we'll be opportunistic as well.
"But probably the most important thing is that it would have to align with what the summer plan looks like, which is the bigger squad plan. All of those conversations are ongoing. We'll have the ones about where Eddie sees the need in the squad, if at all.
"But for now, the conversations have been, 'What have we got, what do we think about what we've got, where do we see this' - then let's see how that fits into January and the next part of the conversation."
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