There was an old adage suggesting Newcastle United would struggle to attract players to live up north.
Indeed, that was something stressed by talkSPORT pundit Gabby Agbonlahor really quite recently, with the former Aston Villa striker claiming players would rather go to Brentford due to the location.
Now, clearly, that is untrue.
Newcastle have signed the likes of Sven Botman and Bruno Guimaraes despite interest from AC Milan and Arsenal respectively, so it’s hardly proven much of a problem in the PIF era.
Still, a current Newcastle player has seemingly been called home by a partner.
Loris Karius’ girlfriend tells him to leave Newcastle
Though Loris Karius isn’t exactly the beating heart of the Newcastle team under Eddie Howe, there were suggestions the goalkeeper could stay.
Selected ahead of Mark Gillespie for the Carabao Cup final following Nick Pope’s suspension, the former Liverpool stopper is the obvious third choice for Howe.
Now, however, the 29-year-old’s girlfriend has admitted she would like to see him leave St James’ Park upon the expiration of his contract at the end of the season.
Karius has been linked with a move to Inter Milan and Diletta Leotta has admitted upping sticks and switching to Italy would be a positive thing for the couple.
“Would I like (Karius to be) closer? Selfishly yes,” she told Gazzetta dello Sport. “But, at the same time, I wish him the best for his career.
“I don’t deny that it would be nice to see him play near me. Perhaps around Milan, or in Lombardy or in Liguria. In short, we can move throughout Northern Italy, but also to the centre or the south.
“It would be much more comfortable than in Newcastle.”
Newcastle have been good for Karius
Now Karius has featured in English football for the first time since making a series of errors for Liverpool in the 2018 Champions League final, his career feels somewhat back on track.
While there was some criticism of his performance against Manchester United at Wembley, it did at least give him a platform from which to rebuild his career.
Karius should not be defined by what happened against Real Madrid and playing in a domestic cup final underlined the faith Howe had in him, albeit Pope or Martin Dubravka would have played if available. To have started ahead of Gillespie at least shows something about how Karius is viewed.
Newcastle have been good for Karius. Without playing at Wembley, the Champions League nightmare would still loom large.
If he can join a big club in Italy as a result of that, it would have been quite the move for Karius.
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