One player who won’t be signing at St James’ Park this month is Ryan Babel, with reports in Holland announcing that he’s just agreed to join Ajax on loan.
It was claimed yesterday that we were one of the clubs eyeing a move for the 33-year-old winger, however Football Oranje have this morning revealed that Ajax will ‘seal a deal’ with Galatasaray to sign him on loan:
Elsewhere, it was reported late last night by Sky Italy’s Gianluca Di Marzio that Aston Villa had submitted a £25m offer for AC Milan striker and alleged NUFC target Krzysztof Piatek.
That said, reliable Midlands reporter John Percy has played down the Piatek rumours emerging from Italy – claiming the Polish striker is ‘not a target’ for Dean Smith, never mind a player they’ve bid ‘£25m’ for!
So, it looks like any move for Babel is off (although I suspect it was never on in the first place) and that Aston Villa may not be competing with us to sign Piatek after all.
