Over the past few days, a number of outlets have linked Newcastle with a January move for Hugo Ekitike.
As we all know, the Frenchman looked set to join Newcastle last summer, only for the move to stall before he ended up joining PSG instead.
Fast forward 18 months and it’s believed the Ligue 1 giants will let him leave on loan in January, giving Newcastle a second chance to sign the versatile forward on a loan-to-buy basis.
With that in mind, I thought it would be interesting to look back on Eddie Howe’s comments on Ekitike. Speaking last July from our pre-season training camp in Austria, Howe insisted there were “no hard feelings”, hinting he was one of the clubs top targets after attempting to sign him in two transfer windows. Read his intriguing comments below:
“We really like Hugo as a player, there is no denying that. I won’t hide that fact. We tried to sign him in January and again this summer, but it wasn’t to be.
“He has decided to go to PSG, and there are no hard feelings towards the lad. We wish him well. We thought he was a real talent and he could have done a really good job for us. But that’s football, that’s the transfer window.
“They are the teams we are competing against. There is no guarantee you will get your top targets, because if you believe they’re that good then so do other clubs.”
It’s a move that wouldn’t go down well with some supporters, but a loan with an option to buy could make a LOT of sense from the clubs perspective. It gives us a chance to see where he’s at before committing to a permanent deal, he’s available, he’s able to fill in up top or out wide and he’s clearly someone we’re very fond of given our attempts to sign him in back-to-back windows last year.
