Newcastle actually agreed to sell 29-year-old for £25.6m this month, the deal fell through

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As transfer deadline day arrives, Newcastle United will not be selling Miguel Almiron.

The 29-year-old was heavily linked with a move away from St James’ Park in January, with Newcastle holding talks with clubs in Saudi Arabia.

Al-Shabab were interested, and it was claimed that they had a verbal agreement with the Magpies to sign Miguel Almiron.

However, the deal appears to have hinged on Miggy’s desire to move to Saudi Arabia, which was non-existent. The Paraguay international made it clear to Newcastle United that he wanted to remain on Tyneside, and that is what is going to happen.

Even though our transfer window is still open, it has closed in Saudi Arabia. That deadline has passed, meaning there will be no u-turn with regards to Almiron taking his talents to the Middle East.

Journalist Ben Jacobs was the one who broke the news about Al-Shabab targeting Almiron, and he has now spoke to Give Me Sport about why the move collapsed. He also shared details of how much the Saudi club were going to pay for him.

Why Miguel Almiron did not leave Newcastle

“They agreed a verbal package with Newcastle for around €30million (£25.6million),” he said.

“They did that through club-to-club negotiations before approaching Almiron.

“When they approached the Almiron side, it was clear that he preferred to stay at Newcastle and certainly not to move to Saudi Arabia and Al-Shabab. As a result, the deal never got off the ground.”

Jacobs adds that Almiron’s stance is the reason Al-Shabab did not actually make a formal bid, despite their verbal agreement.

Selling Almiron would have been a risk

If Newcastle had sold Almiron, they would have had a bit of money to spend and reinvest. That could have led to a dramatic deadline day.

Instead, it looks like it will be pretty quiet, but Eddie Howe will be delighted that Almiron is staying. He was adamant that he wanted to keep him, while selling him would have been a risk.

Sure, we would have had money to spend. But there would have been no guarantees of anyone coming in. Morgan Gibbs-White was eyed up as a replacement, but that deal would have been very difficult to do.

We could have ended up with a situation where we sold Almiron and were unable to bring in a replacement, which would have been a disaster.