Santiago Munoz is reportedly going to leave Newcastle United very soon.
That’s according to Mexican outlet Record (as reported by Sport Witness), who state that the Magpies have no plans to make his loan deal permanent or to extend the loan arrangement.
Newcastle do have an option to buy the forward. However, they will not be taking it up. Instead, he will be heading back to Santos Laguna at the end of 2022.
While the move was met with a lot of fanfare, it looks like it will be ending in disappointment for Munoz.
Munoz to leave Newcastle with zero first-team minutes
When Munoz joined Newcastle in 2021, there was some excitement. There was also a lot of scepticism.
He joined at a time when fan anger was at fever pitch, tired of Mike Ashley’s ownership as the takeover saga dragged on in the background.
Newcastle needed new recruits to help then-manager Steve Bruce, but instead the club moved for a youngster who simply had a funny name.
The film ‘Goal!’ is synonymous with Newcastle United, with fictional character Santiago Munez achieving his footballing dream with a move to St James’ Park. That was obviously the hope with the similarly named Munoz, but a lot of people saw it as as PR stunt.
Fast forward towards the end of his 18-month loan spell, and it’s difficult to argue with those people.
The 20-year-old’s time on Tyneside has been far from memorable. He’s trained with the first-team on the odd occasion, and appeared for Eddie Howe’s side in a friendly against Athletic Bilbao over the summer.
However, he never played any competitive minutes for the Toon first-team, nor did he even make the bench.
While it would have been fun to see Munoz play for Newcastle, he clearly isn’t up to the standard. This is an experiment that has failed, and he will now head back to Mexico.
It’s a far cry from what happened to the character Munez in the film. He quickly rose through the ranks and played so well he earned a move to Real Madrid.
But for Munoz, the fairy tale appears to be coming to an end.
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