Newcastle United have been linked with signing James Maddison in January, but the Telegraph’s Luke Edwards now thinks that is ‘unlikely’.
The Leicester City ace has been the Magpies’ top target for a long time. He was heavily rumoured to be moving to St James’ Park during the summer, but both of Newcastle’s bids were rejected.
The interest has continued heading into January, with the Northern Echo naming him as Eddie Howe’s number one target.
Talk of the 26-year-old joining was extremely exciting for supporters, as he is one of the top players in the Premier League. Maddison already has 11 goal contributions this season, and would have made a great Newcastle team even better.
He is the kind of signing who could propel us towards the Champions League, but doubts began to emerge when it was claimed that PIF would not splash out in January.
Now the Telegraph’s Luke Edwards has provided an update on the situation.
Maddison to Newcastle is unlikely
The journalist has provided an update on Newcastle’s transfer plans via Twitter, and it’s not good news for those who were keen to see Maddison arrive at St James’ Park next month.
“Newcastle “highly unlikely” to move for James Maddison in Jan according to well placed sources,” he wrote.
“There could be signings made but not going to be huge month for recruitment and that deal is very, very expensive and difficult to do. Still like the player though and remains of interest.”
No Maddison is no surprise
Given the finances that would likely be involved, it always felt quite unlikely that Maddison would move to Newcastle -despite all the speculation.
He was valued at £60million during the summer, and his performances will hardly encourage Leicester to drop the midfielder’s price tag.
Newcastle spent a lot of money during the summer. They splashed out £63million on Alexander Isak out of nowhere. Therefore, another major incoming this season would really stretch the limits of financial fair play. And with the owners looking to steadily grow the club, another £50million+ signing seemed out of the question.
Perhaps a deal could be revisited if Leicester lower their price. But they have got no reason to do that.
In some respects, it is a blow for Newcastle. They aren’t going to be able to get their top target in January. And as previously stated, Maddison is a player who could really solidify the club as a Champions League contender.
But we are already performing better than expected. No one anticipated that we would be third in the league at this stage.
Breaking the bank in January in a bid to secure Champions League football would be a financial risk that could have a knock on effect if it backfired. In that sense, it is wise for the club to box clever and put a move for Maddison on hold until the summer.
While Maddison might be enjoying some ‘banter‘ with the Newcastle players out in Qatar right now, it doesn’t look like he will be playing alongside them in January.
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