Newcastle United Keeping Tabs on Leicester City Winger Demarai Gray
By Will Day
Newcastle United are keeping a close eye on Leicester winger Demarai Gray, as he heads into the final year of his contract at King Power Stadium.
The 24-year old has made 131 Premier League appearances for the Foxes after joining Birmingham from four years ago, but nailing down a regular spot under Brendan Rodgers has proved difficult for the former England Under-21 international.
Despite appearing 21 times this season as Leicester narrowly missed out on a Champions League qualification spot, Gray started just three times - a stark contrast to the 2018/19 season, when he played over 2,000 minutes of Premier League football under previous boss Claude Puel.
His lack of game time has led to speculation that his future may lie elsewhere, and the Telegraph report that Newcastle are one of a number clubs monitoring his situation. Gray's contract at Leicester only has another year to run, meaning the Foxes could look to cash in on him now to avoid the possibility of losing him on a free transfer next summer.
Newcastle have struggled for goals this season, with club-record signing Joelinton netting just twice. Dwight Gayle showed decent goalscoring touch towards the end of the campaign, but the goals haven't really flowed from the wide areas - despite a number of promising displays from flamboyant winger Allan Saint-Maximin.
As a result, Gray could prove to be a viable option for Steve Bruce, who remains in the dark over whether a takeover of the club - by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund - will be completed. He did, however, suggest earlier in the week that the club are pressing ahead with pursuing targets, despite the uncertainty.
“It’s imperative that we get a bit of business done, yes. And that’ll happen. We’ve got one or two things bubbling away, let’s see what we can do," Bruce said. “I'm sure there will be a lot of names bandied about, but we've got one or two which I'll be delighted with if we can pull them off to start the summer. Watch this space."
Signing Gray may not be straight forward for Newcastle, though, with Tottenham thought to be among those interested in prizing him away from the east Midlands. But a move to north London may not appeal too much, with Lucas Moura, Steven Bergwijn and Son Heung-min among the players competing for a starting spot under José Mourinho.