Some pretty excruciating claims have emerged from The Chronicle’s Mark Douglas this morning, who’s shed light on just how different the summer transfer window could’ve been had the Saudis got the keys to St James’ Park.
He has named FIVE players who appeared on their list of ‘prime targets’ ahead of a proposed takeover – and there’s some big ones on there.
Nathan Ake and Ferran Torres feature – the former Bournemouth and Valencia duo who ended up at Man City – as does Victor Osimhen, who ended up sealing a big-money move from Lille to Napoli.
He also claims that a few ‘Hollywood’ signings were also being worked on, suggesting that Lazio goal machine Ciro Immobile and Gareth Bale had both been approached.
Here’s a snippet from his piece for The Chronicle:
“If the money had arrived in the St James’ Park coffers, doors would have been opened and players would have arrived.
“United’s alternative, Saudi-fuelled target list identified the likes of Valencia’s Ferran Torres (who ended up at Manchester City) and Bournemouth’s Nathan Ake as prime targets.
“Lille’s Victor Osimhen was among the names while the Hollywood star dust seemed to be supplied by the likes of Gareth Bale and Ciro Immobile, who claimed approaches from those close to the takeover.”
We’ve ended up having a better window than some expected after that dreadful news confirming the takeover had collapsed, however this is a real bitter pill to swallow.
Callum Wilson gives us the striker we’ve lacked since Demba Ba and Ryan Fraser could prove to be a very shrewd signing on a free, but this level of investment could’ve taken us to a completely new stratosphere.
OK, we wouldn’t have been able to compete immediately with the likes of Man City and Spurs (where Torres, Ake and Bale have ended up), but this shows the level of ambition and investment that could’ve come our way had the Premier League approved this £300m deal.
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