Even Real Madrid think £65m Newcastle target is just too expensive to buy

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Newcastle United’s interest in Moussa Diaby seems to have cooled off dramatically over the last year and now Real Madrid are starting to think the same way as Newcastle.

Real Madrid have just signed Jude Bellingham in a deal that could be worth up to £115million but they still aren’t in the game of wasting money which is why they probably won’t follow up their interest in Bayer Leverkusen‘s Moussa Diaby.

The Athletic have look at Madrid’s options for a forward ruling out a £100million move for Tottenham‘s Harry Kane due to his age and only having one year left on his contract. They also mention Randal Kolo Muani and Moussa Diaby but claim that they’d be reluctant to meet their respective club’s valuation for players with so little experience playing at the ‘elite’ level.

Newcastle still admire Diaby but refuse to meet Leverkusen’s asking price

That will no doubt be music to Dan Ashworth‘s ears as it justifies Newcastle’s hardline stance on Diaby as they’ve refused to meet Leverkusen’s £65million valuation.

Newcastle are huge admirers of Diaby and still retain an interest in him after they pursued him last summer to no avail, but the Magpies will not be bullied into paying what they deem to be over the odds for anyone, instead opting to bide their time to make the right move.

As with most players Newcastle are looking at, there is competition by a Premier League rival with Manchester United keen on Diaby as a replacement for Jadon Sancho after the Frenchman bagged nine goals and nine assists in 33 Bundesliga games last season.

Could Man United’s interest force Newcastle’s hand?

It’ll be interesting to see if Man United make a move for Diaby and how much they offer and also whether that then forces Newcastle to join the race.

My thinking is that Newcastle have moved on from Diaby. His name is probably still on the list but much further down than it was 12 months ago.

Signing James Maddison would probably result in Diaby’s name being erased from the shopping list all together.