Newcastle United seemed almost nailed on as Dujuan “Whisper” Richards’ next destination after a successful two week trial, but the Jamaican teenager ultimately signed for Chelsea at the weekend.
Newcastle fans were left scratching their heads at the weekend when it was revealed that Dujuan “Whisper” Richards had signed a pre-contract agreement at Premier League rivals Chelsea.
The announcement came less than 48 hours after The Chronicle released their interview with Richards which revealed that all signs pointed towards the ‘unstoppable‘ midfielder moving to Tyneside. Richards was happy with the club, their ambition and felt that he’d done enough to impress.
Richards snubbed Newcastle for Chelsea
It turns out he had, and Newcastle did offer a deal to Richards, but ultimately the Magpies missed out.
Phoenix All Stars Academy president Craig Butler has spoken to the Jamaica Gleaner (via The Chronicle) about the process revealing why it was Chelsea who won out overall, saying: “It wasn’t a sudden switch, whenever you manage a player it is important that you look at all available options and choose the best possible offer.
“Newcastle really did a great job and made a big effort to get him and we appreciate everything that they have done. Newcastle presented a very good offer and so did Genk and Ajax. But for us Chelsea presented the best one.”
While that statement makes it seem like it was all about money, he did go on later to say: “Chelsea were not just better from a financial perspective but also in terms of his football pathway and the plan for the player. He will be in the first team and that is very important to me.”
Plenty more fish in the sea
I said before that it stings as a Newcastle fan to see us lose out on a promising prospect like Richards to a Premier League rival like Chelsea. We will never know how much first-team football was promised by Newcastle versus what was offered by Chelsea, but you’d have to expect it would be easier for him to break his way into our midfield than Chelsea’s “£1billion” team.
Thankfully, barely a day goes by when Newcastle aren’t linked to a young hot prospect, as Dan Ashworth‘s young revolution begins to take shape. We will move on and we will find someone to fill that gap.
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