Newcastle have now done a complete u-turn on ‘unbelievable’ £58m player

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Once upon a time, Newcastle United were ‘obsessed’ with signing Christian Pulisic. Now the Magpies have decided that they do not want him.

That is according to the Athletic, who have reported that Eddie Howe’s side have made Chelsea aware that they have no interest in signing Pulisic this summer. He looks set to leave Stamford Bridge, and could be available for as little as £20million.

That is obviously still a lot of money, but would represent a huge loss for Chelsea. They spent £58million on him in 2019.

His Chelsea career appears to be coming to an end – but Newcastle have no plans to rescue him. And that represents a massive u-turn in just 12 months.

Christian Pulisic has been one of Newcastle’s top targets

Cast your minds back to the summer of 2022, and Newcastle were hoping for a favour from Chelsea. The Magpies had four players they wanted to sign, all of which plied their trade at Stamford Bridge.

Armando Broja, Callum Hudson-Odoi and Conor Gallagher were all targets, but the main one who Howe wanted was Pulisic.

In the words of Fabrizio Romano, Newcastle were ‘obsessed’ with bringing the USA international to St James’ Park. However, a deal could not be agreed and Pulisic, who has been described as an ‘unbelievable‘ player, stayed put.

He was then a target once again in January, with talk of the Magpies making the 24-year-old their marquee signing. A marquee signing did arrive that month, and he was a winger, but it was Anthony Gordon rather than Pulisic.

Since then, it has become more and more apparent that Pulisic’s future lies away from Chelsea, meaning Newcastle would have another chance to get the forward they have been craving.

However, now the Toon recruitment team have changed their mind. While the club have revisited plenty of targets since the change of ownership and bided their time to get the player they want, they have actually gone the opposite way with Pulisic.

With Champions League football set to take place at St James’ Park next season, Newcastle need elite signings who can make a difference on the European stage. The club obviously believe that Pulisic is no longer the player we need.

While he would have been a good signing for commercial reasons and helping boost our profile in America, football reasons mean that he is not on his way to St James’ Park.

It is somewhat comical that after two transfer windows in a row in which Chelsea have refused to do business with us for their deadwood, we are now the ones rejecting them.