Remi Savage was offered a one-year extension to stay at Liverpool, his boyhood club of 10 years, but in the end, he chose to make the move to Newcastle United.
That’s according to The Athletic, which has reported that it will cost Newcastle around £250,000 in compensation fee.
Part of Barry Lewtas’s under-23s team over the course of the 2020-21 season, Savage is a versatile defender who is able to slot in centre-back or left-back.
Indeed, the teenager joined the Reds as a kid, starting with the Under-9s, before he moved up in ranks to play for Steven Gerrard’s Under-18 team during the 2017-18 season. He struggled to hold down a place, however, facing stiff competition.
During this period, he won the FA Youth Cup in 2019, while last campaign, such was his ability, he was finally awarded a first professional contract. He signed on the dotted line in June 2020 and that seemed that for the 19-year-old.
Liverpool’s official website noted about the teenager at the time: “His defensive qualities are augmented by the threat he often poses in the opposition penalty area from set-pieces.”
Report of the move comes after Newcastle released a squadron of young players. Players Owen Bailey, Yannick Toure and Ludwig Francillette have been let go.
The transfer of Savage could spell a new dawning for Newcastle. It shows that despite the Magpies not having the best of times in recent seasons, the club still possess a pull through its prestige and history.
It has always been a wonder why Newcastle, for all their fist-tight behaviour, would not invest in the youth. Now they are borrowing youth from other sides, like Joe Willock from Arsenal, rather than crafting their own and making money that way.
Look at how Chelsea make money from their academy graduates.
Newcastle have also been too carefree in releasing players: According to TransferMarkt, Ivan Toney was sold to Peterborough United for just over £300k, while Adam Armstrong left his boyhood club for £1.35m to Blackburn Rovers.
Toney is now a Premier League player for Brentford valued at £16.6m – while Armstrong is valued at £14.4m.
Such moves smack of a side who don’t know what they are doing, although in Toney’s case, it was Rafael Benitez who thought he wouldn’t suit.
Speaking to FourFourTwo, Toney said: “Rafa [Benitez] came in, he had a decision to make and he made it, which was clear and fair enough. He didn’t see me in his plans. If somebody doesn’t want you, it isn’t the end of the world. It’s their choice.
“You might not fit in with their style of play, or it might be something little – you don’t know. But just because one manager doesn’t want you, it doesn’t mean another one won’t.
Now reportedly coming in is a player is Savage, who who idolises Virgil van Dijk (via Liverpool official).
If Newcastle acquire a player whose quality is even half the Dutchman’s, then they will have a real star on their hands.
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