Newcastle in no rush to sell Merino

Although an agreement between the Basque club and the player has been agreed, the Premier League club are not ready to let the midfielder go at any price and are sticking to their price.

According to 'Mundo Deportivo', Newcastle are prolonging negotatiations with no intention of rushing a deal, while Real Sociedad have made a new offer below 12 million, but that with add-ons the price would excede that figure.

The Spanish outfit have faced a number of obstacles in the negotiations so far. Although they wanted to pay the release clause, in England you can't trigger the clause without the agreement of both clubs.

Sociedad's plan was to have brought Merino to the club by the time pre-season starts next Thursday, but Rafa Benitez recalled his players to start training on Monday.