For weeks, if not months now, the general expectation amongst fans has been that our next signing was going to be a young central midfielder currently playing on the continent.
A host of names, headed by in-demand AZ Alkmaar star Kees Smit, were linked as we reportedly planned to futureproof our midfielder and find a star in the making.
Whilst Smit eventually opted to stay at AZ for the rest of the campaign, and fellow target Kevin Danois is yet to receive a concrete offer, it looked like a late deadline day move for Reims midfielder Patrick Zabi was on the cards.
However, this move also didn’t come to pass, and it seems Newcastle may have missed the boat on the player entirely…
France-based star opts to stay abroad
According to L’Equipe, 19-year-old Patrick Zabi has agreed personal terms with rising Ligue 1 side Paris FC, and will join the club in the summer for around £21.5m.
We had spent deadline day pushing to sign the youngster, and although we couldn’t get a move finalised on Monday, there were reports that we retained strong interest in securing a summer deal.
The Mail’s Craig Hope added that the general feeling on Tuesday night was that Zabi was content with his life in France, and wished to stay there rather than make the move to England at this early stage in his career.
Although the £21.5m fee seems pricey for an unproven talent currently in the second division in France, it’s another frustration for the club’s recruitment team, although L’Equipe report that Man Utd and Bournemouth also missed out due to his preference to remain in his homeland.
Who should Newcastle target in the summer?
Now Zabi is Paris-bound and off the table, the recruitment team will head back to the drawing board and beginning working on some much-needed summer targets.
By the time the summer rolls around, there is a fear that Smit will be either unavailable or unaffordable, as the Dutchman has attracted suitors from Europe’s top clubs including Real Madrid.
There will be hope that Danois could be the answer if he continues to shine at Auxerre, whilst Smit’s compatriot Luciano Valente was a rumour that went rather quiet in the final few days of the window despite regular links to the Feyenoord talent.
But if our transfer activity in recent years has been any indicator, it’s we maintain interest for more than just a single window when we really want the player: so whether that be Zabi, Smit, Danois, Valente or a new target entirely, the summer search for our next midfield star will be an interesting one to watch unfold.
Scouting/recruitment not good enough last year(s). Thiaw is good but we’ve been after him for a few years. New signing as Woltemade, Ramsey, Wissa and Elanga not good enough. Don’t understand why we always leave it so late in windows. We should have identified our transfer targets by now and get them signed up asap so they can have a full pre season!!! Instead of another Isak/Wissa saga
Matt(Quote)
PSR will slow progress but won’t stop it. Will judge the signings at the end of the season but seeing signs of improvement in all of them. Problem is too many games /injuries.
neale Johnson(Quote)
They tell us up north its the weather that stops players coming to Newcastle the truth is the recruitment team are always late the manager wastes millions on rubbish players the two up stairs will not get up off there backside and the back line are pension age well when you have a lot of clowns expect a circus because that what we have that in abundance.
Keith Richardson(Quote)
why does EH blame PSR for not recruiting new players when he said him self on sky that he was waiting for players with injurys to come through and that we will not sign anyone must have short memory could have sold players that are bench warmers
Keith Richardson(Quote)
Keith if you think your an expert in doing deals why don’t you put yourself up for it and see if you can do better. Regarding the player if he thinks it’s best for him to stay in France we’ll that is his choice, he’ll be doing what he thinks is best for him.
Darren Bebb(Quote)
Well darren it would help if the recruitment team got there on time
Keith Richardson(Quote)
What bothers me about this is we’ve obviously scouted the lad, liked what we saw and contacted his agent – Alreet, does the lad fancy a move to Newcastle like?! (or words to that effect) – no he likes France he’s gonna stay over here. Oh whey nee bother 🤷🏼♂️.
How is this getting out in the press?!
Is it even true coz it’s not saying we actually bid on the lad.
Think we need to be careful just how much we believe coz there’s not many players left who we havent tried to sign – apparently.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Have we recruited as well as we could? Of course not, that never happens. Do we have a better bench than we’ve had in recent years? definitely. Has being in four competitions exposed the age and depth of our squad? Yes. Does having a squad valued at only 2/3rds of our rivals hamper us? Of course, that was why the regs were written. Will the improvements of the last four years continue over the next four years? Probably. Are we going to win all four competitions this year? Don’t be stupid, maybe in 2030 we might get close.
PremAndUp(Quote)
We also compete in a different transfer market now.
Not only do we have to compete with clubs that can pay far higher wages – the top clubs in Europe.
You also have clubs like Paris FC and Strasbourg who are part of a bigger consortium – so this lad at 19 could easily be playing at one of the Red Bull clubs in a year or 2 – Strasbourg to Chelsea obviously.
Sharpy17(Quote)
How do you know for certain they didn’t that’s the reality we don’t know if they did or not
Darren Bebb(Quote)
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Emma Collins(Quote)
A big factor was maybe looking at how we treat teenagers in the under 21 age group and the disastrous Loans management which is still in place .. ruining emerging talent… and given limited opportunity by Howe in the first team ..
Mike(Quote)
Norman(Quote)