Leicester star midfielder finally made his choice as Newcastle Utd and Man City battle for signature

It is unlikely that City would sign Bellingham and Maddison, but if a move for the former proves impossible to pull off, it is anticipated that they will redouble their efforts to land the latter. It has been suggested that City officials held brief talks with their Leicester counterparts over Maddison in the final hours of the January window, only for the Foxes to double down on their refusal to discuss a deal.

Newcastle will have money to spend this summer, with their failure to conduct much January business creating more wriggle room within the parameters laid out by the Premier League’s Financial Fair Play rules. However, Eddie Howe will still be working to a relatively tight budget, with Magpies co-owner Amanda Staveley insisting that the club remains within the regulations.

“We have an FFP budget and we stick to it,” said Staveley, during a talk at the Financial Times’ Business of Football event earlier this month. “That guides a lot of our transfer policy – we can’t afford to have a dud and we have to be very careful and analytical in everything we do.”

Staveley’s comments help explain why, under the current regime, Newcastle have tended to turn back to players they have scouted and even made offers for in previous transfer windows.

They returned to the table for Sven Botman after an initial failure to prise the centre-half from Lille, and were also successful at the second attempt when it came to signing Anthony Gordon from Everton.

A renewed approach for Maddison would fit the same model, with Newcastle also remaining interested in Scott McTominay, who has been the subject of discussions with Manchester United in the past.

Kieran Tierney is a more recent target, but the Magpies expect the Scotland international to be available this summer given his failure to hold down a starting spot in Arsenal’s first team this season.

While Newcastle have both Jamal Lewis and Paul Dummett on their books, they would like a new left-back to potentially enable them to return Dan Burn to his arguably more natural position of centre-half.