The updates on Newcastle’s dual pursuits of Sven Botman and Hugo Ekitike have been less than promising. It’s still very early with months to go before the window slams shut on September 1st.
There have been some promising signs of transfers at the youth level. Alex Murphy will officially come aboard in July while it looks Newcastle have won the race for Kilmarnock’s Charlie McArthur.
Yesterday, it was reported that Newcastle have agreed on a fee and personal terms for the 17-year-old. He should be next through the door as the Academy rebuild is off to a decent start.
Sport Witness has cited a report from Portugal that a bid is still being prepared for Braga’s Roger Fernandes. The 16-year-old is a highly-rated winger who already has 10 appearances for the Portuguese club.
Unlike McArthur, who will cost £350,000, a significant investment is being prepared for Fernandes. The offer could eventually reach over £20m, though will likely be heavily laden with future bonuses.
Newcastle may see Fernandes as worth the risk. He showed glimpses of world-class ability this past season. His pre-match preparations even shocked his manager Carlos Carvahal, who has since moved on to Al Wahda.
Carvahal, who has managed Sheffield Wednesday and Swansea, said the following after a match this past October:
“It was unbelievable. I know football. This is not normal.
“I asked him the next day, ‘Where did you learn this? Who taught you? This is a complex position.’ He told me that he watched all of Braga’s games and when he had been told that he would play as a left winger, he spent all that day watching videos of Galeno (the injured player he replaced).
“He had studied his movements in the offensive phase, defensive phase and the transition.
“Wow. At 15 years old, this was something special. The modern young player does not like to watch full games but this boy had done all that he could to learn this position.”
75 comments so far
Tyran21
Jun 17, 2022 at 12:46 PM
Comment #41valle
Yah, there’s no right or wrong. As we have no idea what’s going on behind.
cleveleysbob
Jun 17, 2022 at 12:47 PM
Comment #42Tom/Clint commiserations on the Family catching lurgi, hope they’ll both be OK and recover soon.
And thanks for the Blues stuff this morning, quality, you too Lesh thanks. 🙂
Adamn_92
Jun 17, 2022 at 12:47 PM
Comment #43Downie is probably the one to believe the most among all the other reporting and stories.
Ketsbaia9
Jun 17, 2022 at 12:47 PM
Comment #44Would be funny if Ekitike was worse than Chris Wood. Put a lot of effort in to sign him.
Ketsbaia9
Jun 17, 2022 at 12:48 PM
Comment #45Definitely need to snap up Maxwel Cornet. Play him at left wing back. Can also fill in up front. No brainer for £17.5m
Adamn_92
Jun 17, 2022 at 12:48 PM
Comment #46Tom/Clint
Is it their first or second time getting it? I got it for a second time a few weeks ago, I thought it was hayfever at first! Only felt bad for around a day or so and nowhere near as bad as the first time I had it. So hope they have a similar reaction and they don’t feel any effects too hard and recover quick 🙂
WLtoon
Jun 17, 2022 at 12:52 PM
Comment #47Its great to see the club investing in potential for a change, the 20M quoted for young Fernandes is expensive for a 16 yr old but it would be a huge statement of intent by the club spending that much on a kid basically.
SirRhosis
Jun 17, 2022 at 12:53 PM
Comment #48Tom, Ref your missus and the lurgy.
Same has happened to me. Returned from Tenerife at the weekend and have tested positive. Retested again this morning and still got it. It seems to be rife.
I am banished to the loft room, as my father-in-law is due a serious op next week and the wife is petrified she catches it and passes it on to him.
Never mind, I’m getting everything cooked for me and passed thru the jail hatch 🙂
WLtoon
Jun 17, 2022 at 12:53 PM
Comment #49TOM,
Sorry about the late reply re Benidorm, ive been working.
We are staying at Benidorm Plaza Hotel, to my knowledge it is a 5 minute walk from the old town
Tyran21
Jun 17, 2022 at 12:54 PM
Comment #50Mund
It’s Deja vu of Jan window. People saying Newcastle fail at getting this player, that player….etc. Boom! Newcastle get Bruno, Burn, Wood and Targett and performed miracle. As I said, who you get in the transfer window doesn’t matter, grade them after the season ends.
cleveleysbob
Jun 17, 2022 at 12:54 PM
Comment #51I suspect, (because of our owners wealth) that agents and selling clubs are just playing games, contacting the press, chucking false rumours about other clubs into the mix, just to see if they can get us to sweeten the deal, raise the ante, whatever you want to call it.
Basically blackmail, or as some have called it the Newcastle Tax.
We just have to ignore all the “noise”, because that’s all it is and our team will just be waiting patiently for it to die down, leave their offers on the table and wait for the sellers to wake up.
They will need to replace outgoing players, so they can’t hang on indefinitely they will soon need to close out pending deals. Good things will happen, we just can’t make them any quicker. 🙂
Ruddy Marveaux-lous
Jun 17, 2022 at 12:55 PM
Comment #52Another day, pity party from the dunce.
At the risk of a groundhog day scenario, I think for most people they just want the Botman and Ekitike sagas concluded one way or the other. Not criticising the players, or owners or even the agents involved, but rather being fed up by it being dragged on.
Most of us grasp this very simple concept, but not all.
WLtoon
Jun 17, 2022 at 12:55 PM
Comment #53Sir Rhosis,
Its meal time, ever seen The Ghoul ? 🙂
Mund
Jun 17, 2022 at 12:56 PM
Comment #54Tyran
I’ve said the same mate. Whatever happens we will be alright
valle
Jun 17, 2022 at 12:56 PM
Comment #55Tyran… True. I think No article is more true than another, in fact, I believe that half are Lies. But I just form an opinion on what I have read and discuss that… Sort of like “if this is true, then I feel this way about it” and so on.
cleveleysbob
Jun 17, 2022 at 12:57 PM
Comment #56SirRhosis, tough break, get well soon.
Mund
Jun 17, 2022 at 12:57 PM
Comment #57This lad has real life issues 🙄
Bless him tho he does try
Ruddy Marveaux-lous
Jun 17, 2022 at 1:00 PM
Comment #58On topic, this kid from Braga seems like the real deal but I personally would prefer we focus our attention on players who can materially impact the 1st team either in the coming season or in the next few seasons. At 16 years of age I cannot imagine this youngster to be regularly around the 1st team of a PL side and would be farmed out on loan or in the U23s which for the outlay we’re talking about seems a bit foolish.
No doubt will be a top talent and I absolutely defer to Howe and Ashworth should they go ahead with this signing but it just doesn’t immediately make sense to me, unless they think he’s good enough at 16 to challenge the 1st team?
Toon_Barmy
Jun 17, 2022 at 1:01 PM
Comment #59Kets Maxwel Cornet simply isn’t a LWB, except as a FIFA RULEBREAKER card showing where you get all your (lack of) football knowledge
cleveleysbob
Jun 17, 2022 at 1:02 PM
Comment #60Players involved in recent Internationals whether tournaments or friendlies have just started their holidays. So by definition, all the best players now relaxing in Sun. Agents and clubs will be talking, but not too much likely to happen for at least another week.
Have to say I was impressed with the way ManC and Liverpool got their targets “lined up” early and completed before their respective holiday breaks, very professional, that has to be what we aspire to in coming years.
Mund
Jun 17, 2022 at 1:02 PM
Comment #61The sense is get him before anyone else does
The lad could be a sensational signing but obviously one for the future.
The fact the owners are going for priority top targets and youth fills me with joy
SirRhosis
Jun 17, 2022 at 1:03 PM
Comment #62WL, can’t say that I have.
She’s gone out with the dogs though, so I intend to make a run for it to the allotment, padlock the gate and self-medicate (if you get my drift), 🙂
Tyran21
Jun 17, 2022 at 1:04 PM
Comment #63Adamn_92
It’s too early to say who looks bad actually. You are right to say the club who get rejected twice looks bad initially, but in the bigger picture and longer term it is uncertain yet. But I get what you meant, I would say it is very borderline though.
Mund
Jun 17, 2022 at 1:04 PM
Comment #64Miles Starforth
@milesstarforth
·
2m
Sky Sports report that Newcastle are ‘close’ to agreeing personal terms with Reims forward Hugo Ekitike. He could travel to Tyneside for medical next week. Positive news, club pushing to do as much business as it can in the early part of the window. #nufc
WLtoon
Jun 17, 2022 at 1:12 PM
Comment #65SirRhosis..
Just a light hearted post about your meal time restrictions, all good.
Hope your father in laws op goes well fella.
Ruddy Marveaux-lous
Jun 17, 2022 at 1:15 PM
Comment #66I think it’s important for us to be able to walk away from deals and refuse to pay the ‘Newcastle Tax’ as some are calling it. Sends an important marker in the long run.
I’m confident that we’ll bring in at least 4 players who will improve the overall 1st team squad and with that Howe can fashion a side capable of finishing inside the top 10 of the PL, perhaps even push for Europe. That in turn will turn Newcastle United into an even more attractive proposition for players than it already is.
At present, we’re competing with european clubs offering CL football, so naturally it’ll be hard to ‘get them over the line’. Can we blame Ekitike for fancying a move to PSG or Dortmund over us? Or Botman to AC Milan? Absolutely not. It’s a great testament to us as a club and long-term project that we’re even in competing in the market with these clubs.
However, are we over-reaching with some of these players making the market a little harder for ourselves than it needs to be when there are quality players out there who would jump at the chance to join us? (That’s both a rhetorical question to ponder and one to answer haha)
SirRhosis
Jun 17, 2022 at 1:15 PM
Comment #67Cheers
WLtoon
Jun 17, 2022 at 1:24 PM
Comment #68Wasn`t there an article last weekend that Ekitke could be on a plane to fly in for a medical within hours of that same article being released.
Still looking for that plane, it must be flying via MarsJet if it`s taken longer than 7 days to get here
Tyran21
Jun 17, 2022 at 1:30 PM
Comment #69WLtoon
That was a minor mistake by Dr Ed, if you missed the apology from Neil. Sometimes it’s hard to go through so many tweets and got tricked by the date it was posted.
carltoon
Jun 17, 2022 at 1:32 PM
Comment #70Mund! Hope Sky are right,
Not bothered if we don’t get him or Botam.
Some of the, “the club will look bad”
My god short memories.
SirRhosis
Jun 17, 2022 at 1:35 PM
Comment #71Probably a TUI flight, judging by my experiences!
TOM
Jun 17, 2022 at 2:55 PM
Comment #72WL .
theres plenty bars that show games. it would cost you about 5 or 6 euros in a taxi to go to the new town plenty bars there for you . ALSO morgans bar ( the one they used on the tv program is a tad expensive gets a bit rowdy there .
look out for the hookers and pick pockets /
TOM
Jun 17, 2022 at 2:56 PM
Comment #73SirRhosis
cheers mate i hope you get better soon .
TOM
Jun 17, 2022 at 2:57 PM
Comment #74BOB .
thanks for your kind words mate.
TOM
Jun 17, 2022 at 2:59 PM
Comment #75ADAM .
first time for my missus , shes got a hacking cough and bit of a high tempature at the moment .