Newcastle United journalist Liam Kennedy has provided some clarity on the club’s pursuit of defender Kristoffer Ajer during the transfer window.
Reports earlier in the transfer window claimed that Steve Bruce’s men were showing an interest in signing the 23-year-old, with The Athletic claiming that he had “been scouted extensively by Newcastle’s recruitment”, however, he ended up making a move to Premier League outfit Brentford instead.
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Speaking on NUFC Matters about the transfer saga, Kennedy confirmed that the club were indeed showing an interest in him in the early stages of the window, but it just came down to a matter of who could offer Celtic the most money, and in this instance it turned out to be the newly-promoted side:
“He was a player that they really wanted. Because I know a few people who represent him, his agency up in Scotland, and there was genuine interest there from Newcastle United, and they were leading the race at one point this summer. But money talks, and Newcastle United ain’t got a lot of it.”
TIF Thoughts on Liam Kennedy’s comments about Kristoffer Ajer and Newcastle United…
Whilst it shouldn’t come as a major surprise that Newcastle United were outbid for a player given Mike Ashley’s mantra when it comes to spending in the transfer window, it does come across as a big smack in the face that the club can’t compete in a financial aspect when it comes to a newly-promoted side that doesn’t have any history in the Premier League and on the whole, is much smaller than Newcastle.
And that could end up having an effect on how the transfer window sits for them moving forward. Because if they can lose out to a club as small as Brentford, then what does that mean if they go into a transfer battle with a club the size of Aston Villa or Everton?
It certainly is a damning state of affairs up at St. James’ Park, and hopefully one that the proposed takeover of the club, whenever that might happen, should hopefully aim to fix.
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