Another day, another Toon transfer target who looks set to sign elsewhere.
I wish we had some more promising news to write about on the new signing front, however it’s now emerged from The Athletic that Arsenal defender William Saliba will turn down a move to Newcastle as he’s picked Marseille as his preferred destination.
David Ornstein’s ‘exclusive’ states that Newcastle United and Ligue 1 side Lille had been leading the race for his loan signature, however he’s now closing in on a move to Marseille.
The Athletic had reported that we were hopeful of sealing a deal for the £27m centre-back, with Bruce’s good relationship with Mikel Arteta only growing after Joe Willock’s outstanding spell at St James’ Park, but it seems Saliba prefers a move back to his homeland.
As highlighted above, Marseille and Arsenal still have to agree the terms of his proposed loan move, however it seems he’s already decided where he wants to be playing his football next season – and it’s not St James’ Park.
We’ve still got almost eight weeks left to do business, yet this is another mini-blow for Bruce, with fellow loan target Billy Gilmour ending up at Norwich yesterday and our move for Kristoffer Ajer appearing to have stalled.
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Let him go – he’s not proving to Arsenal that he’s PL standard at Marsielle ??♂️.
Plus, he’s not the Arsenal player I want at Newcastle this summer ??
Sharpy17(Quote)