Despite being linked with Newcastle plenty of times over the past few months, James McCarthy has joined Celtic.
The midfielder’s contract at Crystal Palace expired this summer, meaning he was available on a free.
That was right up Newcastle’s alley, with the Magpies seemingly targeting free agents and loan deals. However, as it stands Newcastle haven’t signed anyone.
A loan for Axel Tuanzebe is proving difficult, while all the best free agents have been scooped up by now.
It’s been a tough summer for Newcastle, with multiple targets heading elsewhere.
William Saliba went to Marseille, Billy Gilmour joined Norwich and Kristoffer Ajer signed for Brentford.
Now another name linked with the Magpies has found a different club.
James McCarthy heads north to Celtic
McCarthy has been unveiled as a Celtic player, signing a four-year deal on the same day that Joe Hart joined the Hoops.
However, reports have suggested that Celtic did face competition from Newcastle for the 30-year-old’s signature.
Back in April, TEAMtalk claimed that Newcastle were challenging Celtic to sign McCarthy.
Rumours continued in July, with 90min stating that Steve Bruce is a huge fan, while the prospect of McCarthy reuniting with Graeme Jones made this deal a possibility.
Almost three weeks later and McCarthy is a Celtic player.
While missing out on Ajer was disappointing, this transfer probably won’t upset Toon fans.
McCarthy wouldn’t have been an inspiring signing, even with the lack of recruitment this summer.
He isn’t the kind of midfielder we need. We need a box-to-box player who can burst forward and score goals. Basically, we need Joe Willock.
McCarthy would have been in a similar mould to Jeff Hendrick, who struggles himself to get into the starting XI.
We all want signings at Newcastle, but this isn’t a deal we should worry about.
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