Newcastle aren’t afraid to spend £69m on 20-year-old Chelsea want

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Newcastle United could be about to make life hard for Chelsea in the race for Sporting Lisbon defender Ousmane Diomande.

Ousmane Diomande is one centre-back who appears to be on Chelsea‘s radar, with A Bola reporting that the club are interested in him.

However, according to the Portuguese outlet, Newcastle United and Arsenal are also keen and the former have not been put off by the 20-year-old’s €80m (£68.7m) release clause.

As of now, Chelsea are not in talks to sign Diomande, claims transfer expert Fabrizio Romano.

With there still a long way to go in this transfer window, though, that could change.

Newcastle not afraid of Ousmane Diomande’s release clause

Chelsea face having to take on Newcastle for Diomande’s signature, with the Magpies not put off by the Ivorian’s release clause.

It is a fee that you could easily see the Blues paying as well, given some of their recent purchases.

They have had no trouble spending big on the likes of Enzo Fernandez and Moises Caicedo, for example.

Signing Diomande now, though, does not look like it needs to be a pressing matter for Chelsea.

Mauricio Pochettino should be able to get to the end of the season with the likes of Thiago Silva and Axel Disasi and then the Blues can re-evaluate things in the summer. But if there is a chance to do something now, perhaps they will act.

If Chelsea really are interested in Diomande, they will also not want him going to a team like Newcastle. The two clubs are now rivals competing for the European football places.

In fact, they are literally right next to each other in the Premier League table at present, with Newcastle sitting just one place above Chelsea in ninth.

It will now be interesting to see where Diomande ends up if he does decide to leave Sporting.