Brentford make club-record bid and offer ‘huge salary’ for ex-Newcastle target after initial ‘rejection’ | OneFootball

Nicolas Gonzalez with Lucas Beltran during Fiorentina's win against Genoa.

Brentford are willing to break the bank for Fiorentina winger Nicolas Gonzalez after seeing an opening bid rejected two weeks ago, according to Fabrizio Romano.

Gonzalez joined the Italian outfit from Stuttgart in July 2021 for a fee in the region of £20million.

The 25-year-old has scored 23 goals and provided 14 assists in 82 appearances for Fiorentina and kicked off the 2023/24 campaign with a goal in his side’s 4-1 opening day Serie A win at Genoa.

19 goal contributions in 42 appearances across all competitions last term was a very good return for the player, who helped the Florence club reach the final of the Europa Conference League.

Gonzalez’s fine performances have seen him linked with Leicester City and Newcastle United in the past but a move never came to fruition.

Since the Magpies’ interest was reported, Eddie Howe has signed Harvey Barnes and Anthony Gordon so are unlikely to reignite their interest in the Fiorentina winger.

It is now Brentford who are interested in bringing the 24-cap Argentina international to the Premier League.

According to transfer guru Fabrizio Romano, the Bees have made an attempt to make Gonzalez the most expensive player in their history.

Romano says the Londoners have offered a ‘€40million (£34.1m) package’ and have put a ‘huge salary’ on the table in order to convince the player.

It is added that Brentford had an opening bid rejected by Fiorentina ‘two weeks ago’.

Thomas Frank is clearly eager to sign a new wide player despite adding Kevin Schade for around £21m earlier this summer.

The Danish head coach reportedly made Nottingham Forest’s Brennan Johnson his number-one target but his side’s Premier League rivals are understandably reluctant to sell the Welsh international.

Johnson has also been linked with Chelsea, though Romano recently said he is not on the agenda for the Blues at this moment in time.

“Despite rumours in the last few days about Brennan Johnson and Chelsea, from what I understand he’s not a priority target for the Blues,” Romano said.

“There are no concrete negotiations with Nottingham Forest at this stage, and although things can change in the final days of the transfer window, at the moment Chelsea are not considering Johnson as a priority target for that position.”