The Evening Standard reports that Newcastle United want to sign Kenedy from Chelsea on a permanent deal in the summer.
The 22-year old Brazilian joined Newcastle on loan for the rest of the season in January, and has since impressed at St. James Park, making a telling contribution at the weekend, scoring twice in the three-nil victory against Southampton.
Chelsea rejected Newcastle’s request to include an option to buy when the loan deal was negotiated, but the Geordies are planning more talks with the Stamford Bridge hierarchy over making the Kenedy move permanent.
Kenedy has already started more games in his short career under Rafael Benitez than he managed in his previous two and a half years at Chelsea.
Despite this, current Chelsea manager Antonio Conte does not want to sell the player and still sees a future for him at Stamford Bridge. However, with Conte widely expected to depart in the summer that could see a change of mind in West London, depending on who comes in to replace him.
Andy is an exiled English football fan living in Cyprus. He loves all sports but football is his abiding passion, and he still has dreams every now and then about scoring the winning goal in a Wembley Cup Final, even though his playing days are long gone. He follows most major leagues, across Europe at least, and has a favoured team in each. When he’s not watching, listening, reading or downloading podcasts about football, he spend his time worrying about his beloved Arsenal.