According to The Mail, former Arsenal full-back Kieran Gibbs is a player of interest to Rafa Benitez, however they claim a deal to sign him could be ‘beyond’ his current budget – something that just doesn’t add up.
Gibbs cost West Brom £7m last summer and his value has undoubtedly gone down since then, having aged another year (now 28) and faced relegation.
Given Sky confirmed on Thursday afternoon that we’re now ‘in talks’ to sign PSG’s £7m-rated left-back Stanley N’Soki, I’m struggling to see why Gibbs would be ‘beyond our current budget’.
Gibbs’ wage demands would be higher (although all of West Brom’s squad have taken a significant cut since relegation), however he’s almost certain to be available either at a cut-price deal (a fee of £5m has been touted) or on a season-long loan to help trim the Baggies second tier wage bill.
Kieran Gibbs is a player of interest to #nufc but he is likely to be beyond their financial means. [Daily Mail]
— NUFC 360 (@NUFC360) August 2, 2018
Here’s what The Mail have said on our interest, claiming we are in talks to sign PSG’s Stanley N’Soki, with Gibbs likely to be ‘too much’ for our current budget to handle.
“Newcastle United are in talks to sign Paris St Germain’s French U20 international Stanley N’Soki for Newcastle, reports Simon Jones.
“The 19-year-old can play at left-back or centre-back and made his debut last season as a substitute.
“Newcastle also like Kieran Gibbs at West Brom but he could be beyond their current budget.”
If we can’t afford Championship players and are now resorting to inexperienced youngsters who’ll arrive on low wages then this really does show just what Rafa’s up against.
We’re going to need a miracle if we want a half-decent striker to arrive between now and next Thursday if these sort of deals are ‘beyond our budget’..
A cheese sarnie is way out of our budget!
Rosco(Quote)