According to Sky Sports’ Pete Graves, James Maddison “had his heart set” on a move to Newcastle United before sealing a £40m move to Spurs.
Speaking on Sky Sports’ Transfer Talk podcast, he’s been told by ‘people close to Maddison’ that the England international was “really, really” keen to join Eddie Howe’s Mags.
However, it’s believed wages played a key part in the end, with Newcastle refusing to match the salary on offer at Spurs. They are thought to be paying the 26-year-old around £175,000 per-week and Graves reports that we had no intention of offering those sort of figures due to our “very stringent salary cap.”
Here’s what he had to say when speaking about the former Leicester City star:
“They obviously liked James Maddison.
“People were telling me – even just yesterday I spoke to people who are quite close to Maddison, who said that Maddison really, really had his heart set on a move to Newcastle.
“He has gone to Spurs. I think in the end it came down to wages. Newcastle have got a very stringent salary cap in place and they’re nowhere near the wage structure that some of the top teams in the Premier League at this moment in time. And they’re happy with that.”
If Maddison really was keen on a move to Tyneside, it’s bittersweet to see him end up at Spurs. However, if we weren’t prepared to pay a whopping salary or he was tempted by the money on offer in North London, it may have been for the best.
Hilarious (and totally untrue, of course)
Big Mal(Quote)
Yeah of course he wanted to join Newcastle…….. keep dreaming!
Bobby(Quote)
Pete Graves is talking poop, must be short of something accurate to say.
Joseph(Quote)