The summer transfer window is not even two weeks old, but Newcastle United have been left frustrated in their efforts to sign top targets early on.
Yesterday, Sky Sports revealed that Newcastle are now in talks with Burnley over a deal to sign James Trafford.
The 22-year-old is thought to be Eddie Howe’s No 1 target and was pursued last summer, but it seems discussions with the newly-promoted Clarets haven’t gone to well so far.
Toon could walk away from Trafford talks
According to The Telegraph, Newcastle are threatening to walk away from talks to sign James Trafford over Burnley’s demands.
Despite suggestions they value the goalkeeper at £30m, Luke Edwards reports that Scott Parker’s side are demanding well in excess of that figure for the England talent.
There is also internal fears on Tyneside that Burnley are stalling our attempts to strike a deal in hope that Chelsea get involved, with the Blues recently walking away from a deal to sign AC Milan stopper Mike Maignan.
As a result, Newcastle will not allow themselves to get caught up in another time-consuming transfer saga and could move onto other targets if Burnley refuse to lower their asking price.
The Telegraph reveal that the club have shown interest in Lille’s Lucas Chevalier and could turn to the French international if no progress can be made during discussions.
Trafford has made feelings known
Speaking on the Fozcast podcast last week, Trafford didn’t hide how keen he was to join Newcastle last summer.
He told Ben Foster that Newcastle was a move he “believed in”, calling it “brilliant for me” and a switch he was gutted to see fall through at the time.
“In the summer I think people knew I wanted to move,” Trafford said. “The club that I was close to going, it was a good fit for me. It was brilliant for me and I really believed in it.”
“I wanted to move, not just because I didn’t want to play in the Championship, I had no shame playing in the Championship. I have no ego to think I’m better than the Championship. You only prove something by performing and showing people. You can say whatever you want but unless you perform…
“It was just when an opportunity and a situation you think suits you can happen, you should take it and you should try and go for it, so I wanted to move. It was close but it didn’t end up happening.”
12 months on, if he’s still eager to sign, perhaps a bit of player power can assist Newcastle’s pursuit. However, if Burnley stand firm and Chelsea do join the race, we might just walk away from what we hoped to be a straightforward deal.
Guehi, Trafford, Elanga and Pedro, hope they are a smoke screen for something else, we are being treat like Big 6 buyers for prices and reality says we are not.
Joseph(Quote)