Reports have come out suggesting that Paris Saint-Germain will not be pursuing a move for Hugo Ekitike after all.
That leaves Newcastle as the only interested party, however, they have now moved on to other targets following a breakdown in talks between the club and the player’s representatives.
It seems as though Ekitike’s agent was trying to play two clubs off one another and it got to a point where Newcastle weren’t willing to play the games anymore and walked away. Newcastle had a deal in place with Reims and just needed to iron out personal terms, whereas PSG hadn’t even made a formal approach, so quite what the plan was, I have no idea.
Would You Still Take Ekitike?
Yeah, it's not his fault
Nah, he had his chance
If Ekitike wants to live up to his potential he may have to seriously evaluate who he keeps around as he’s currently getting terrible advice from his reps and it could seriously hamper his career.
Even though Newcastle have moved on, it’s probably not the end of the story for Ekitike and Newcastle, especially after PSG have walked away. Expect his agent to return to Newcastle, cap in hand, asking for the deal to be resurrected.
Chris Waugh of The Athletic spoke on the Pod On The Tyne podcast making a similar claim, saying “If Paris Saint-Germain don’t end up signing him and he has nowhere else to go, I wouldn’t be surprised if later in the summer the agent returns with his tail between his legs and tries to do a deal with Newcastle.
“Whether Newcastle have already signed someone by then is a different matter. But they do really like Ekitike. He has been a long term target, but at the minute it’s looking increasingly unlikely that that deal is going to happen, especially in the short term.”
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