Newcastle United could have received a significant boost in the pursuit of Liverpool midfielder Xherdan Shaqiri.
The 28-year-old has been heavily linked with a move to St James’ Park in recent months after the Switzerland international appears to have been ostracised at Anfield under manager Jurgen Klopp.
Shaqiri has struggled with a reoccurring calf injury, which has been one of a number of reasons why he has seen even less game time than he had last season.
During the 2019/20 campaign, the Swiss winger has only started twice in the Premier League, whereas last season he scored six goals and provided three assists in 11 starts and 24 appearances, as per Whoscored.
The Liverpool Echo noticed that Shaqiri was an unexpected absentee from the Reds’ training session at Anfield on Monday, which could be a huge boost for us in our chase for him.
Would you bring Xherdan Shaqiri to Newcastle?
Yes
No
Despite carrying vast amounts of European experience with the likes of Inter Milan and Bayern Munich, he finds himself way down the pecking order with Mohamed Salah, Roberto Firmino, Sadio Mane and Divock Origi being the preferred options.
It is known that Newcastle have been keen to take him off the Anfield books and to bring him to Tyneside. However, this would hinge on whether or not the club’s £300m takeover goes through.
This comes after The Guardian revealed that the deal has been thrown into serious doubt, due to the fact that the World Trade Organisation (WTO) have held PIF responsible for the illegal streaming of major sporting events in the Middle East.
Shaqiri would be a great signing. However, we currently have bigger fish to fry as we are hopefully about to go through a transition that sees the wretched Mike Ashley walk away from the club.