Sven Botman decision time as playing commitments end – Newcastle United Sporting Director watching on

It is now imminent for the Sven Botman situation to be sorted, the central defender on his way out of Lille and just now a case of which club it is revealed he is signing for.

The long-term Newcastle United target saw Lille reject bids back in January, due to the Ligue 1 club wanting to keep him for the Champions League knockout stages.

However, even if Sven Botman wasn’t wanting to leave this summer, Lille need to sell the 22 year old central defender due to underlying financial pressures, especially as with no European football in the upcoming season, along with most other Ligue 1 clubs they will be reliant on the relatively (compared to the Premier League in particular) low levels of financial reward from competing in French domestic football.

In recent days, The Telegraph reported sources had informed them that ‘Newcastle are close to breaking through’ in landing Sven Botman, that ongoing negotiations between Newcastle United and Lille are set to come to a successful conclusion.

Reports from other media have claimed that Newcastle had made an offer for the 22 year old, far in excess of what AC Milan had offered.

Always difficult to gauge what is the truth in the media but certainly as the past week has went on, things certainly appear to be pointing increasingly Newcastle’s way, when journalists are reporting on the next move for Sven Botman.

Sven Botman made clear early in June that he had played his last game for Lille, confirming that both Newcastle United and AC Milan were trying to sign him and that he wanted a move sorted in advance of pre-season starting:

“What if the last league match was also my last match with Lille? I don’t know, but I think so. The intention is to take a step forward. I hope the transfer is completed soon, preferably in time for the pre-season preparations.

“Milan and Newcastle are interested but I can’t and I don’t want more. What I want is to step forward and play a good competition, I can’t wait. But it’s not just the club or the competition that decides, I have to have very good feelings about it too.”

A potential / probably complication (delay) has been the international commitments for Sven Botman after the end of the season. The young central defender with the Holland Under 21s these past couple of week, starting on Friday 3 June in the 3-0 away win against Moldova, before sitting on the bench for a 6-0 home victory over Gibraltar, then Saturday (last) night seeing Sven Botman play the first half in a 1-0 win over Wales Under 21s at Llanelli.

Sitting in the stands watching was Dan Ashworth, very difficult to believe that the Newcastle United Sporting Director was there for any other reason than Sven Botman. Not impossible but a highly unlikely coincidence.

For my money, I think surely this coming week we will be finding out whether Sven Botman is moving to St James Park, or not.

International commitments out of the way, Sven Botman wanting a new club sorted in time for pre-season (Newcastle squad start pre-season preparations in 19 days time on 1 July), seemingly a choice between Newcastle and AC Milan with NUFC increasingly reported as the club set to sign him.

I think at this point, I would say Sven Botman is more likely to sign for Newcastle United than end up elsewhere, which in the crazy world of the transfer market are the kind of odds I am happy to settle for.

Also of course, just great that Newcastle United are targeting the likes of Sven Botman and Hugo Ekitike these days, rather than the never ending loan chase for Hamza Choudhury!