OPINION
The alarm bells at Newcastle United over the lack of signings this month are surely louder than ever after their pursuit of Atletico Madrid attacker Gelson Martins took a significant blow.
The Chronicle reported on Wednesday morning that the Magpies had begun discussing a deal with the Spanish giants over taking the 23-year-old winger on loan.
It then seemed even more promising on Wednesday that the Magpies could potentially sign a talented player like Martins as The Sun’s live transfer blog (8:28am) as they claimed that Ashley was willing to pay the £4.5million loan fee that was required.
Yet it seems that Martins probably isn’t likely to arrive at St James Park anytime soon based on reliable journalist Lee Ryder’s update which followed the original stories on Wednesday evening.
Monaco have hijacked #nufc ‘s bid to sign Gelson Martins ?
— Lee Ryder (@lee_ryder) January 23, 2019
“Monaco have hijacked #nufc ‘s bid to sign Gelson Martins 
” tweeted the reporter, via his personal Twitter account.
Given that Monaco have a lot of things going for them, even though they’re struggling in their division too, and the fact the Magpies have a tendency in recent windows to be linked to everyone and sign hardly anyone, it save to say the alarm bells about this pursuit being successful should well and truly be sounded.
This is especially the case when you consider Ryder has added a emoji to his update that reflects the fact it’s probably bad news for the Magpies now that Monaco have hijacked their bid to sign Martins.
With time running out to get deals down before the January window shuts and Rafa Benitez’s squad in desperate need of reinforcements, it has to be everyone to the panic stations at the Magpies at this point, as any hope there was is quickly fading regarding this window.
While the Magpies still have a chance of getting Martins, given that it’s Monaco who have hijacked their pursuit it seems the alarm bells are louder than ever in this window as even for Benitez’s side their hope regarding Martins has been squashed very quickly.