Newcastle United were dealt a huge blow by missing out on Abdukodir Khusanov to Manchester City.
The Magpies are still looking to sign a defender after missing out on Marc Guehi in the summer. Newcastle sporting director Paul Mitchell was confident he could land Guehi, but several bids were rejected by Crystal Palace.
Fast forward to the January transfer window and Newcastle looked poised to sign Khusanov from RC Lens before he made the move to Man City.
Khusanov revealed that he snubbed Newcastle to be coached by Pep Guardiola, who he considers “among the best.”
It also looks like Newcastle will miss out on another promising young defender to Man City before the transfer window shuts. Newcastle had thought they led the race for Juma Bah before he made a verbal agreement with the defending Premier League Champions.
Newcastle are still in need of a defender. Now, they have just been handed a huge opportunity to hijack a move for a player who looked set to move to another Premier League club.
Newcastle target Loic Bade’s move to Aston Villa stalls
Sevilla centre-back Loic Bade looked set to join Aston Villa in January after it was reported that the club had begun discussions over a move for the French international. Newcastle were linked with a move for Bade earlier in January after Sevilla slashed his price tag by £30m, but it looked as if Villa were first past the post to land the 24-year-old.
However, transfer guru Fabrizio Romano has now confirmed that talks between the player and club are not advancing and the deal is on complete standby.
Sevilla are believed to not be happy with Villa’s most recent offer of £19.3m with £2.5m add-ons. Romano has also stated that Bade has not accepted Villa’s proposal, so it looks like wage demands could be another stumbling block before the deal is done.
Bade has made 16 La Liga appearances so far this season, keeping five clean sheets as Sevilla sit 11th in the table.
Newcastle may not be able to afford Bade
Even though Bade would cost around £20m with add-ons, there is a chance that Newcastle may not even be able to afford to fork out that fee for him due to ongoing pressure to comply with the Premier League’s Profit and Sustainability Rules.
PSR and Financial Fair Play were touted as the reason why Newcastle failed to sign Khusanov in January. Speaking to Championat, Gairat Khasbiullin; Khusanov’s agent, said that there were discussions with Newcastle over a move for the 20-year-old.
He claims that FFP had an impact on proceedings which meant Newcastle were not able to put an offer in for the player.
He also claimed that if Newcastle had made an offer earlier in the window they could have landed him which suggests that Mitchell did make an approach which ultimately failed.
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