Newcastle United wanted to sign Joao Pedro from Watford during the summer, and were willing to swap Chris Wood to get him.
That’s according to the Athletic, who have provided fresh details of a last gasp bid from the Magpies to sign the Brazilian youngster.
Eddie Howe’s side were heavily linked with Pedro. At one stage it looked like a move to St James’ Park was all but certain. Transfer expert Fabrizio Romano even claimed that a deal was done and a contract had been agreed.
But then Newcastle’s move for the Watford forward collapsed, and Dan Ashworth and co moved to land Alexander Isak for a club record fee.
However, that wasn’t the end of Newcastle’s Pedro pursuit.
Newcastle proposed deadline day swap deal with Chris Wood and Joao Pedro
According to the Athletic, Toon Sporting Director Ashworth made one last attempt to sign Pedro on transfer deadline day.
Newcastle were reportedly willing to send Wood the other way, which now explains the tentative links between him an Vicarage Road on the final day of the transfer window.
At the time we heralded Ashworth for keeping the New Zealand international. But now it seems as though the club were willing to lose Wood and bring in Pedro.
However, the Athletic add that the Magpies’ approach was turned down, with Watford deciding that the 21-year-old was going absolutely nowhere.
Since then, Wood and Pedro have had contrasting fortunes. The Newcastle number 20 is a squad player, often coming on late in games. He did that on Saturday against Aston Villa, and missed a good chance to get his first Premier League goal of the season.
The 30-year-old’s only strike so far has came in the League Cup, while he has only started once in the league.
As for Pedro, he has been impressive in the Championship. The ‘exciting‘ forward has got six goal contributions from 13 league appearances, with Watford currently seventh in the table. And of course they have done their customary change of manager, with Slaven Bilic replacing Rob Edwards.
The Athletic add that Pedro is now valued at more than the £30million that Newcastle were going to pay for him during the summer. They are unsure whether or not the Magpies are still keen, but he will suddenly cost a lot more money if they are.
As for Wood, Newcastle’s deadline day proposal clearly shows that the club are willing to move the £25million man on already.