Benitez set to miss out on deadline day target as Sky Sports confirm he’s now set to join Everton

Despite confirming that we’d made a move to sign him last night, Sky Sports have now revealed that it is Everton who are set to seal the loan signing of Man City defender Eliaquim Mangala.

Sky reported that we’d made an enquiry to Manchester City over the availability of the Frenchman, however North-East correspondent Keith Downie did state that any agreement was unlikely unless City reduced their asking price.

It has been reported since that the club were unwilling to pay his £80,000 wage packet (which seems odd given we’d agreed to give Sturridge well over £100k if he’d signed on loan), however it may actually be a blessing that we’ve missed out on Mangala.

Here’s why..

If we’d have signed him on loan then a loan deal for Slimani (which looks all but done) wouldn’t have been possible. We are only able to make TWO Premier League loans, meaning the signing of Mangala would’ve forced us to look abroad for a striker (on loan) or mean we’d have had to stump up the cash to sign the likes of Slimani on a permanent deal.

So Mangala off to Everton, however it’s not a huge loss – even if Benitez was clearly an admirer of the big centre-back.

The Chronicle’s Mark Douglas has since admitted that it was a deal that ‘never felt likely’ – and we’d tend to agree given our need for a striker:

(Fancy writing for us? Send any articles/ideas over to us at [email protected] & we’ll get back to you!)

 

About Olly Hawkins

As a Junior Magpie since birth and season ticket holder, I eat, sleep and breathe all things NUFC! Here at the blog, I aim to bring you news, views, match reports and transfer exclusives as and when I get them.

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