Newcastle United are the richest football club, and unless they do something quickly, they would be spending that money in the Championship. The club bought over by a Saudi consortium are looking to flex their muscles but have found the going a bit difficult.
Money might have unlocked the door into the Premiership, but it is not yielding the desired dividends in attracting top-quality players. With relegation staring the Toons in the face, it hurts to see that players have failed to queue up to join the club despite the promise of oil lucre.
After a difficult time in signing players, Newcastle haved to use their financial prowess to lure them to St James Park. Attention is on France based Brazilian midfielder Bruno Guimaraes.
Newcastle are close to signing Bruno Guimaraes
Newcastle United are in the market for players. They strive to bolster the team as the transfer window shuts on Monday.
However, they are close to completing a deal for the Lyon midfielder. The Magpies have had to dip deep into their purse to lure the 24-year-old Brazilian to the Premier League. They are pushing to see the deal over the line to become their third acquisition of the January transfer window.
The current situation of Newcastle has been a stumbling block to attracting a category of players as they do not want to be engaged in relegation battles. Newcastle have offered Guimaraes quadruple of what he receives at Lyon.
According to L'Equipe, the Brazilian would pick up a princely weekly wage of £120,000. The report suggests that Newcastle have agreed on terms with Lyon, with the Toons to pay a transfer fee of around £35million plus another £8.3m in add-ons.
As per Sky Sports, there seems to progress with the move, and Guimaraes could undergo a medical on Friday. The Brazilian has contributed six assists in 25 appearances for Lyon and was the subject of interest from Arsenal.
A mixed bag of success and failure
The arrival of Guimaraes will bring the number of players to Newcastle this winter to three. Eddie Howe recently voiced his discontent at the lack of arrivals to Newcastle. He, however, said that it was not due to a lack of effort, as plenty of work was going on behind the scenes to ensure the players he needs to pilot the team to safety are signed.
Newcastle has signed Kieran Trippier and Chris Wood. Despite the availability of funds, they have failed to meet market expectations.
Newcastle failed to sign Fiorentina striker Dusan Vlahovic, who has pitched his tent with Juventus. The Magpies also failed to meet the expectations of Sevilla over a move for defender Diego Carlos. Sevilla rejected a figure less than his £66 million release clause.
The Magpies continue to work the market before the transfer deadline.
By :
Steven D. Thompson
