Newcastle United are expected to be busy in the January transfer window.
After Sandro Tonali was banned from football until August, Newcastle have been linked with a raft of new central midfielders.
Indeed, that particular area is understood to be something of a priority for the club going into the New Year sales.
The likes of Kalvin Phillips have been linked, along with Al-Hilal midfielder Ruben Neves.
While there is nothing to stop Newcastle signing the Portugal international even despite PIF owning the Saudi Arabian club, it seems Neves has other ideas.
Ruben Neves to Newcastle: Midfielder addresses transfer latest
Despite so many links between the two, Neves has now confirmed reports that emerged last month suggesting he was happy with life out in the Middle East.
Speaking to BBC Sport, he said: “I don’t go.”
“I think that’s rumours because of the owner of the clubs of course, and because I’ve played in England as well.
“There was Newcastle interest before I came here but I’m really happy here, my family’s really happy, so I’m having a great time.”
Ruben Neves transfer: Much ado about nothing for Newcastle
Neves was strongly linked with a move for a while. Hailed as “world class” during his time at Wolves, he’d have been a logical, Premier League-proven signing in a position Newcastle need to strengthen.
Still, it rarely seemed as if the club were putting all of their eggs in the Neves basket. Even when the Premier League staged a vote on whether a transfer of that nature would be allowed, Newcastle reportedly favoured a move for Phillips.
Now the mini-saga is over, hopefully it will soon be clearer as to who the actual targets are.
January is not far off now and Newcastle need to be in a position where they can strengthen right away.
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