Newcastle United have to cough up around £20m if they want to secure the services of James McCarthy. The Ireland international had his injury problems throughout the season and has managed only 13 appearances this term. Rafa Benitez would like to use a large chunk of the £100m transfer kitty on midfielders and McCarthy is topping his wish list. McCarthy was brought to the club by Roberto Martinez when he joined the club from Wigan Athletic. He was a regular under Martinez’s helm but had very limited game time under his successor Ronald Koeman. In an injury-ravaged season, he has started in only seven Premier League games this season.
Everton finished in the seventh place of the Premier League and Europa League campaign is set to unveil in the next season. Given the importance of the next season, a host of players are set to be shown the door and he could be one of them. Although Koeman still has high hopes for him but if they receive a suitable offer, who knows they might let him go. Everton midfielder boasts of some serious talents with the likes of Idrissa Gueye, Morgan Schneiderlin, Tom Davies and Gareth Barry and it could be difficult for McCarthy to break into the first team.
Newcastle ended the season as the champions of the Championship and there would be a certain amount of expectations from the fans. The Toons have had an excellent season under the tutelage of Benitez and the Magpies will have an eye to finishing in the top half of the table next season. 
McCarthy is currently injured and also has been withdrawn from the Irish national team. But Koeman is unsure whether to keep him or not because of his knack of getting injured so often. “Of course I want to keep McCarthy because all the times he was really fit and on his level most of the time he was a starting player.
“But it was really difficult because he had a lot of injuries and that makes it difficult for him and the manager also.”
West Ham United and Crystal Palace are rumoured to have an interest in the player and might go for a bid in the coming days. Benitez has plans to deploy McCarthy in the midfield alongside Fulham’s Tom Cairney. The Spanish manager would require a number of player with ample Premier League experience and McCarthy certainly does have that quality.
