Last month, Danish defender Kristian Pedersen claimed that he came close to joining Newcastle United over the summer.
A move to Tyneside didn’t materialise, and Lee Bowyer – currently in charge of Birmingham City – has now spoken out about our interest.
The former NUFC midfielder has confirmed he received a phone call from Steve Bruce over the summer, but insists that’s as far as it went, stating no official offer arrived from Newcastle in the end.
Here’s what he’s had to say about the 27-year-old left-back – who is entering the final six months of his contract at St Andrew’s:
“I have read somewhere there was interest from Newcastle in the summer.
“I had a phone call from Steve Bruce – that was as far as it went.
“There was no contact from anything else, or offers or anything.
“It will be tough for Kristian.
“I think that hurt him in the summer because maybe he thought he might get a Premier League move but now he just has to crack on and do his job.
“If he chooses to move on, that will be his choice but – for as long as I am here and he is here, he has just got to give the team one hundred per cent and do the right thing.
“If there ever comes a point where he stops doing that then he won’t play if I think he is going to affect us as a football club.”
Some are wondering whether we may reignite our ‘interest’ in the defender next month, with him likely to leave at a cut-price fee before he leaves for nothing next summer, however this appears more of a bargain basement buy the previous regime were looking at?
Here’s a reminder what the player himself said about our interest during an interview in November:
“It was close with Newcastle in the summer.
“The club got a call from Steve Bruce.
“He said he really wanted me, but it didn’t work out in the end, because there were some things that had to succeed before the ends could meet.
“Of course, it’s too bad it didn’t happen, but there’s nothing to be done about it.
“It would have been a really good opportunity for me, but yes, it did not happen, and now they have got new owners and have got other muscles to play with, so I do not know exactly how it is anymore.”
