- Toon are considering whether to bid again after having a £45m one rejected
- The star was a key player for his team this season as they qualified for Europe
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Newcastle launched an attempt to sign Anthony Elanga for £45million from Nottingham Forest on Tuesday – but were swiftly rebuffed.
Mail Sport understands Forest received the offer in the morning but rejected it quickly and have no intention of selling the Sweden international.
The winger, 23, was one of the key cogs in Nuno Espirito Santo’s side as Forest finished seventh and secured European football for the first time since 1995-96.
Newcastle are weighing up whether to submit another bid for Elanga or pursue other targets.
Mail Sport exclusively revealed that the Magpies enquired about him earlier this month, having had an approach snubbed last summer.
But Forest will want a sizeable fee for a man who scored six and assisted 12 goals this season – especially one with three years left on his contract.
It would take north of £50m to get Evangelos Marinakis’ club to budge on Elanga.
He fits Newcastle’s priority as a right-winger but is also versatile enough to play across the front line, which is important for Eddie Howe.
Another asset is his leopard-like speed. Last season, he raced 85 metres in nine seconds in a blistering counter-attack to score a winner against Manchester United.
Elanga began his Premier League career with Manchester United, before joining Forest in the summer of 2023 for a fee in the region of £15m.
The academy graduate had shown promise at Old Trafford but fallen out of favour under Erik ten Hag.
‘It wasn’t easy to leave United because I had been there for nine years from academy to first team,’ he told Mail Sport in 2023.
‘But at the end of the day I have to think about myself and would I want to stay another year coming in and out from the bench or be a starter at a team on the rise, improving and getting better,’ he exclusively told Mail Sport.
He has been a player revitalised at Forest and will have the joy of Europa Conference league football if he sticks with them this campaign.
If he twists, though, he would have the privilege of Champions League football after Toon qualified for Europe’s top table for the second time in three seasons.
Mail Sport recently caught up with Newcastle striker Callum Wilson at a behind-the-scene look at DAZN’s Club World Cup operation, where he has been taken on as a pundit.
He said of Newcastle’s involvement in the Champions League: ‘The club feel like they belong there, deserve to be there, and have the right to be playing on that stage.
‘We saw Villa do really well last season in that format so it’s going to be exciting times ahead and the club is in a position of continually fighting for Champions League places.’
