According to Sky Sports, Newcastle United and SC Freiburg have settled on a fee of just under €57.5million, marginally below the €60million previously reported to have been agreed between the two clubs. Both sides are believed to be in full agreement, but Manzambi is not expected to put pen to paper until after Switzerland's involvement at the World Cup comes to an end.
That caution stems partly from Newcastle United's experience with Victor Munoz, whose move from Espanyol collapsed at the last minute before the 22-year-old instead joined Liverpool. With other clubs still known to be monitoring Manzambi's situation in the background, Newcastle are wary of any repeat until the Switzerland international is free to finalise the switch.
Aston Villa were also strongly linked with Manzambi earlier in the window, having stepped up their interest following Amadou Onana's serious knee injury, but Newcastle are understood to have won the race for his signature.
Manzambi has been one of the standout performers of the World Cup, scoring three goals and adding two assists in four appearances as Switzerland reached the quarter-finals. He is set to face Argentina on Sunday morning, provided he recovers in time from the knee injury that forced him off before the penalty shootout win over Colombia in the last 16.
Should the transfer go through as expected, Newcastle would beat Aston Villa to a player who scored seven goals and created nine more across all competitions for Freiburg last season, establishing himself as one of the Bundesliga's most exciting young midfielders since breaking into the first team in August 2024.
Manzambi began his career at Swiss club Servette before moving to Freiburg three years ago, going on to make 58 appearances for the German side.
It would represent a club-record sale for Freiburg and mark Newcastle's fourth signing of the summer, following the earlier additions of Ewen Jaouen, Bazoumana Toure and Sean Steur, as Eddie Howe continues to reshape his midfield following the departures of Sandro Tonali and, potentially, Bruno Guimaraes.