Keith Downie has moved to quell the fires surrounding Monaco defender Axel Disasi’s move to Newcastle United.
For the past week it has been claimed by various outlets that Newcastle were at the front of the pack for Monaco centre-back Axel Disasi in a deal that could be worth up to £43million.
Claims that Newcastle were beating Manchester United to the 25-year-old and had agreed terms with the player are now said to be wide of the mark if Sky Sports’ Keith Downie is to be believed.
Keith Downie claims the links between Disasi and Newcastle are agent-driven
Downie wrote on Twitter yesterday: “A few people/outlets claiming Newcastle United are in talks with Axel Disasi of Monaco. My information is that is NOT the case — the player being pushed by an agent & not one #NUFC are pursuing.”
The Disasi deal looked so close to being done according to reports originating in France, but as Downie said in his tweet, it looks to be just agent-driven speculation, likely in an attempt to force an interested club to make their move.
If then, as Downie suggests, Newcastle aren’t pursuing Axel Disasi, it leads to the question – who are we pursuing?
We know Eddie Howe needs another centre-back with similar or better quality than Fabian Schar, and preferably one young enough that they can take over from Schar in the future.
Newcastle will still be looking for a centre-back, but who?
The Harry Maguire links will not go away but there just seems to be too many obstacles for that one to happen.
Before the transfer window opened we were linked with some quality young centre-backs, the most exciting of which was Jean-Clair Todibo but things have been very quiet on that one since the window opened with Newcastle focusing on forward options first.
It’s interesting how far this Disasi story has got before Downie came out and shut it down. Perhaps it’s Downie’s information that’s wrong. Only time will tell.
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