The Mirror, Newcastle’s official media partner, have broke an exclusive story this afternoon, claiming the club are closing in on a £17.5m deal to sign Benfica midfielder Andreas Samaris.
Rafa Benitez has been personally working on this deal for the past six weeks according to The Mirror, who suggest Newcastle could be set to break their transfer record to sign the Greek midfielder this summer.
Whilst Rafa is known to be keen on signing an experienced holding midfielder this summer, elements of this reported transfer deal don’t add up.
Samaris has recently turned 28, and whilst inflated transfer fees are to be expected this summer, I would not expect Newcastle to pay £17.5m for a player nearing his thirties – even if the 6ft 2 midfield general is highly rated in Portugal.
The rumour does come from the club’s official media partner, but given Rafa’s alternative targets in this position (Maxime Gonalons and Lucas Leiva) are priced around the £4m mark and not too dissimilar in age (28 and 30), I struggle to see how Benitez could justify spending this much of his budget on Samaris.
28 is not that old for a footballer..especially when they are at their prime. 17.5m for a 28 year old is not unusual by any means!
David(Quote)