Newcastle United winger Matt Ritchie will not leave the club for Stoke City this summer, according to reliable journalist Mark Douglas.
The Chronicle reporter revealed on his personal Twitter account that with Stoke City set to sign Tom Ince, Ritchie will now be staying at Newcastle.
Tom Ince will sign for Stoke on Sunday – which means Matt Ritchie stays at #nufc.
Good news for me. Good player.
— Mark Douglas (@MsiDouglas) July 21, 2018
As reported by Chronicle Live previously, the Scottish winger was a target for Stoke earlier in the window, with Rafael Benitez’s side rejecting a £15million bid.
This also seems to rule out any Toon move for Crystal Palace winger Andros Townsend who according to Chronicle Live, would have been the preferred replacement should £45,000-per-week Ritchie have left the club (Spotrac).
OPINION
This is one less thing for Rafael Benitez to sorry about sorting out in this summers transfer window. A lot of his time has probably been taken up in recent weeks by trying to source a replacement for Ritchie should a bid be accepted, only for him now to stay at the club in the end. Benitez keeps one of his better players, who has been a reliable and consistent performer in his Newcastle career, and can now focus on trying to strengthen his squad for next season instead of simply replacing outgoing players. The Spaniard still has an awful lot of work left to do and not a lot of funds to do it with, so it may be a difficult and frustrating next few weeks for Magpies fans if they’re expecting magical funds to appear from Mike Ashley before the end of the transfer window. There’s been no evidence of wanting to invest in the squad yet this summer, why would it change now?