Despite us striking agreements over the past week, it looks like Rob Holding and Rogerio will NOT be signing at St James’ Park this summer.
David Ornstein – whose ‘exclusive’ first broke news of Holdling’s proposed move to Tyneside – reports today that Mikel Arteta has now ‘made it clear’ he wants to keep the 24-year-old at the club.
As highlighted below, he’s not only set to stay in North London but will start in their Saturday lunchtime clash with Fulham:
So, Steve Bruce must now look elsewhere if he’s to bring in another centre-back this summer. We’ve been linked with loan moves for Fikayo Tomori (Chelsea) and Chris Smalling (Man Utd), although it seems Everton are closing in on the former.
Elsewhere – and this one comes as less of a surprise – it’s been confirmed that Rogerio’s move to Newcastle United is also ‘off’.
Sky Italy revealed last Friday that we’d agreed a fee in excess of £12m for the Sassuolo star and that the deal was ‘almost done’, only for us to strike an agreement with Norwich to sign Jamal Lewis less than 24 hours later.
Given our lack of depth at left-back, with Dummett injured and Rose/Willems back at their parent clubs, some wondered if we were looking to sign TWO in this position.
It wouldn’t surprise me if we still did, however it will comes as no surprise to hear that a £12m deal for Rogerio won’t be pursued now we’ve landed Lewis. Instead, we’ll surely look at cheaper options should Bruce look to bring in another down that side.
Holding’s U-turn will be a mini blow for Steve Bruce, although it doesn’t take away from what has been a brilliant week in the transfer market for Newcastle United, not to mention the fact we have plenty time left in the window and two domestic loan slots left to search for another centre-back.
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Typical Arteta. Absolute clown
Owen Bentley(Quote)