As confirmed by the Chronicle, Newcastle defender Chancel Mbemba now looks all set to join Porto – with the Portuguese giants moving quickly for the centre-back after his proposed move to Anderlecht ‘broke down over a fee’.
This comes as a late and surprising twist for the defender, with it being reported just last week that he was in ‘advanced talks’ with Anderlecht having already agreed to a five-year contract in principle.
It’s now emerged that ourselves and Anderlecht failed to agree on a price – and it’s easy to see why if they were pushing to sign both him and Matz Sels for a alleged fee of £8m.
Here’s confirmations from the Chronicle’s Mark Douglas this morning:
Chancel Mbemba looks set to join Porto in the next couple of days after talks with Anderlecht broke down over a fee.
Italian sides also interested but negotiations progressing well with Porto. Fee above the one mentioned with Anderlecht.
— Mark Douglas (@MsiDouglas) June 12, 2018
Interesting to hear he has interest from Italy too, however it looks like he’s close to joining Porto – a move that comes as a real surprise just days after he looked set to return to Belgium.
This will be an intriguing move for the 23-year-old. Portugal isn’t the most competitive of leagues, but Porto are regulars in the Champions League and have several top players in their ranks.
He’s definitely got talent, but it was never going to work for him under Rafa Benitez. With that in mind, it’s a good job done letting him go – even if he’ll always be a case of ‘what if’ for us fans.
Will we live to regret this one?