Early today, The Chronicle’s Lee Ryder released a hugely promising ‘update’ on Hugo Ekitike’s potential move to St James’ Park.
He reported that the player was prepared to cut short his holiday in order to push through a move to St James’ Park, also claiming that his agent – Karl Mwalako Buchmann – has been in talks with Dan Ashworth over the last few days.
Agent fees were said to be the final hurdle, with Lee Ryder stating that club staff were even preparing for the player’s medical now a deal was edging closer.
Sounds promising, doesn’t it? Well, that was until The Telegraph’s Luke Edwards arrived on the scene with a VERY different update.
He claims that Newcastle are becoming ‘increasingly exasperated’ in their attempts to sign Ekitike, reporting that there’s been no contact with him or his representatives for over a week – even stating that they’ve not been returning the club’s calls!
Edwards also understands that the Frenchman is STILL being offered to other clubs in Europe via his agent, which has left Newcastle fearing that the 20-year-old is getting cold feet over a move to Tyneside.
So, which one is it? Is he ready to ditch his holiday and sign at St James’ Park or is he no longer interested in joining? Has his agent held talks with Ashworth in recent day or has there been no contact between the two parties for over a week?
In a message to his Twitter followers below, Edwards insists that deals for Ekitike and Botman are not dead, however it seems the club are ‘annoyed’ by the lack of progress and ready to pursue other options if we don’t see progress soon.
The only person who knows anything, other than the players, is Ashworth, Journalists know SFA.
The only opinion I trust in all this is Icedog, and since he ain’t talking there is nothing worth knowing.
PremAndUp(Quote)