Newcastle United appear to have missed out on signing Joao Pedro to Premier League rivals Chelsea, despite a long-standing interest in the Brazilian.
It is a bitter, bitter blow for the Magpies in the transfer market, who are now desperate to make new signings this summer.
Newcastle United have not made a single improvement to the starting XI for nearly two years, and it looks like fans will have to wait a little bit longer after it was confirmed that Joao Pedro has chosen Chelsea over Newcastle.
The Magpies were seriously interested in Pedro, and had even made multiple approaches for him in recent days, but it was never meant to be as Chelsea’s offer in excess of £50m was agreed. Just a couple of days ago, Fabian Hurzeler said Pedro would be in Brighton for pre-season, but that now does not look to be the case, with the Brazilian having a medical in his home country before joining up with the Blues in the Club World Cup.
With Newcastle now left looking for other players to sign, a detail within The Athletic’s exclusive report proves the Magpies stood no chance of signing him, even if they were willing to part with the money.
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Pedro joining Chelsea is a huge blow for the Magpies as a close Premier League rival is now even stronger. It is not the first time Chelsea have stolen a march on Newcastle to sign one of their top targets either, Liam Delap held talks with Newcastle over a possible £30m move, but he opted against moving to the North East in favour of West London.
That is now the same case with Newcastle, who have seen yet another player reject a move further up the country to stay in the capital.
It is now down to Newcastle manager Howe and his recruitment team to find an alternative to the 23-year-old, but according to The Athletic, they should have done that weeks ago.
The report states that while Newcastle were interested, the Brazilian was only interested in joining Chelsea. Many will feel that Newcastle have been led up the garden path with the way this deal has gone down, and it is clear to see why.
No alternatives have been listed as it stands, but Howe’s recruitment team are sure to have a long list of names who will cost significantly less and do a similar job to Pedro.
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Joao Pedro rejecting Newcastle United for Chelsea makes little sense
It is a bitter blow for Newcastle, who have had a long-standing interest in Pedro dating back to 2022. A deal was in place for the Brazilian to join the Magpies before the latter dropped out when Alexander Isak became available.
Pedro admitted he was upset at the Newcastle deal collapsing, but now it is Pedro who has left the Magpies frustrated by rejecting them. In reality, a move to Newcastle would have been a lot better for Pedro than Chelsea.
The 23-year-old joins a club which has nearly a dozen strikers to choose from, and there is no guarantee that he will start each week. It is very likely he would have been a key player at Newcastle, with Howe eager to get him and Isak to work together next season.
Chelsea continue to needlessly splash the cash on quality young players who will ultimately need moves in the next few years to give themselves the best chance of forging a promising career. Perhaps Newcastle will assess Pedro’s situation in a year or two’s time and try to sign him again.
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