It looks like Donny van de Beek won’t be joining Newcastle United this month.
With the Manchester United midfielder struggling for minutes, there’s been a lot of speculation that he could leave Old Trafford during the transfer window. And, of course, Newcastle have reportedly shown an interest.
It was even reported last week in the Manchester Evening News that the Dutchman had been offered to the Magpies, as well as Borussia Dortmund.
However, Newcastle have reportedly tried and failed to land Van de Beek. The Telegraph reported on Sunday that the 24-year-old has rejected the chance to move to St James’ Park on loan.
That’s a blow for Eddie Howe, who really needs to add a creative midfielder to his squad. The Magpies struggled to break Watford down on Saturday, only registering one shot on target.
But despite spending his days on the bench since his £40million arrival, Van de Beek does not want to join Newcastle at this moment in time because of their position in the Premier League table.
Van de Beek not up for the fight at Newcastle
If Van de Beek doesn’t want to join Newcastle right now, that’s fair enough. After all, we are 19th in the table and are involved in a desperate fight to avoid relegation to the Championship.
But that also means we should resist any future temptation to move for Van de Beek again.
If we do survive, the summer transfer window is going to be very interesting. It’s going to be easier to attract players, with the immediate threat of relegation no longer looming large like it is right now.
Perhaps Van de Beek will be more interested in joining the Magpies next summer. But we shouldn’t give him the opportunity.
If he doesn’t want to come in now and dig in to battle for survival, he shouldn’t be able to reap the rewards created by the players who did fight for the badge.
The players coming in and now will go down in history if they keep us up. The likes of Kieran Trippier and Chris Wood have taken the chance to be part of something special at the earliest opportunity.
Other players are less keen. Perhaps they think they’re better than a relegation battle or don’t want to damage their reputation. That’s fine – it’s their prerogative. But Newcastle’s hierarchy must remember these players, and resist future temptation to make a fresh move for their services.