There’s been a lot of talk about a Newcastle United return for Georginio Wijnaldum.
The Dutch midfielder joined PSG on a free last summer following the expiry of his Liverpool contract.
Wijnaldum was linked with some big clubs, but decided to join the Ligue 1 giants and play alongside Kylian Mbappe and Neymar. Then Lionel Messi arrived too, and Wijnaldum’s decision looked genius.
However, things haven’t completely gone to plan for the centre-midfielder.
The 31-year-old has struggled to nail down a place in Mauricio Pochettino’s starting XI. A lot of his appearances have came off the bench, which isn’t what Wijnaldum signed up for.
That has led to speculation that he could leave PSG in January, with the newly rich Newcastle United mentioned as a possible destination.
Newcastle keen on return, but Wijnaldum isn’t
TEAMtalk reported in November that the Magpies were tracking Wijnaldum’s situation, amid claims he was unhappy in France. It was also reported by the Telegraph at the start of January that Newcastle could make a move for the Netherlands international nearer the end of the month.
However, it doesn’t look like a Toon return is on the cards.
The Northern Echo state that Wijnaldum doesn’t want to join a club in a relegation battle this month. That’s exactly where Newcastle are, passing up a golden opportunity on Saturday to escape the bottom three. He would reportedly like to come back to the Premier League, but to a team much higher up the table.
That’s understandable considering the way his career has gone since he left Newcastle in 2016.
Wijnaldum had an interesting year with the Magpies, ending it as top scorer with 11. But all of his goals came at St James’ Park, and plethora of anonymous performances on the road contributed to Newcastle being relegated.
He’s a more rounded player now, and would be a perfect fit for Eddie Howe’s midfield. However, you can see why he isn’t keen on a comeback.
Perhaps Amanda Staveley and co are being too ambitious with some targets…
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