NEWCASTLE UNITED are increasingly confident of being able to tie up a deal for Harvey Barnes before the start of next week after making significant progress with transfer talks in the last 48 hours.

The Magpies are close to agreeing a deal for the Leicester City midfielder that will see them pay an up-front fee of around £35m, with a further £5m of potential add-ons also included in clauses within the deal.

Having completed the €70m signing of Sandro Tonali earlier this summer, Eddie Howe remained keen to bolster his midfield ranks further with the addition of a more creative player.

Discussions over James Maddison broke down when the England international made it clear that he preferred a move to Tottenham, but Newcastle’s recruitment team remained in contact with the hierarchy at Leicester City, with their attention switching to Barnes.

The Magpies discussed a potential deal for Barnes with Leicester last summer, but shelved talks when the Foxes refused to lower their £50m valuation of the midfielder.

Things have changed in the intervening 12 months, with Leicester having been relegated from the Premier League and Barnes having entered the final two years of his current contract at the King Power Stadium.

As a result, there is a shared acceptance that the 25-year-old’s value has dropped, although as a full England international, Leicester are determined to extract the maximum possible value from their main remaining saleable asset as they look to fund their own rebuilding project in the Championship.

Asked about the possibility of Barnes leaving earlier this month, new Leicester boss Enzo Maresca said: “When the market is open, anything can happen. Most of us are worried about what happens tomorrow, but we have to look forward.

“At the moment, seven players had their contracts expire, Maddison left, and some more players can leave. But at the same time, if players leave, we can bring in more players. The idea is to bring in our targets as soon as possible.”

Manchester United and West Ham United have both been linked with a move for Barnes in the last few days, but Newcastle’s interest is at a much more advanced stage and the player is understood to have expressed a willingness to move to St James’ Park this summer.

Barnes is desperate to remain in the top-flight as he looks to take his career to the next level, and regards Newcastle are an exciting option as they prepare to return to the Champions League for the first time in more than two decades.

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Further talks are scheduled to take place before the weekend, and it is hoped an agreement could be struck that would enable Barnes to travel to the North-East and undergo a medical before Eddie Howe takes his players to the United States for a three-game tour in the second half of next week.

Ideally, Howe would like to be able to integrate Barnes into the squad during Newcastle’s Stateside excursion.

Signing Barnes would take Newcastle close to the limit of the investment that is permitted this summer under Financial Fair Play regulations, and may mean the Magpies have to sell someone in order to bring in the one or two other players Howe is keen to recruit this summer.

Ideally, the Newcastle boss would like to sign a full-back capable of playing on either flank and a centre-half to help provide cover and competition for last season’s first-choice pairing of Fabian Schar and Sven Botman.

Allan Saint-Maximin is the player with the biggest question marks over his future, with a series of cryptic social media messages posted over the summer fuelling suggestions that the Frenchman could be on his way out of Tyneside.

AC Milan were heavily linked with a possible move for his services last summer, but the Italians have been looking elsewhere as they look to reinvest some of the money they received from Newcastle for the sale of Tonali.