Brentford chase surprise £70m target as Newcastle Utd eye £140m double transfer raid

Welcome to weekend round-up of the biggest Premier League transfer rumours that have been rattling around in the media over the past 24 hours – and we begin today at St. James’ Park, where Newcastle United’s scouting department have been very busy by the sound of it.

HITC have been peeking over their transfer team’s shoulders and claim that the Magpies have sent representatives to take a good look at the Sporting duo of centre-half Ousmane Diomande and holding midfielder Morten Hjumland – who both have £70m release clauses, apparently.

The report goes on to claim that Manchester United have also been keeping taps on Danish international Hjumland as a possible alternative to Benfica’s João Neves. Diomande, meanwhile, is a high-profile young centre-halves who is on the shopping list of just about every big team in Europe, so Eddie Howe will have plenty of competition there.

The 3AM Verdict: We suspect that Hjumland might be available for less than his £70m release fee but Diomande will probably generate enough bids to go for the full amount – and that’s not surprising, as he’s pretty much the complete defensive package despite his youth. Hjumland, meanwhile, is a rock solid midfielder with a better passing range than many more defensively-minded players in the middle of the park, and certainly feels like he would fit in Howe’s narrow, heavy-pressing set-up.

Bees wants Bayern’s Bryan

Word now from Sport Witness regarding former Brentford target Bryan Zaragoza, who they courted in January but failed to buy after being blown out of the water by Bayern Munich, who signed him from Granada on an initial loan which becomes permanent in the summer.

Zaragoza, however, has not been getting many games for his new club and the 22-year-old left winger has just two substitute appearances to his name, and as such there are now emerging reports that they might loan him out next season – and apparently Brentford could be a beneficiary of that, although the article does suggest that the source has only named Rayo Vallecano as a possible destination.