Journalist Ben Jacobs has claimed on the NUFC Matters YouTube channel that Newcastle United have been offered the chance to sign Moussa Diaby.
It’s been well-documented that Newcastle indeed hold an interest in the French winger, who managed to register 31 goal involvements across all competitions last season for Bayer Leverkusen, including 17 goals. However, his reported mammoth price tag has put PIF off moving for him.
Leverkusen’s sporting director Simon Rolfes has recently come out and claimed that the Bundesliga outfit are not interested and do not want to sell Diaby this summer, which is no surprise given he was such a crucial player for them last term.
However, Jacobs has claimed that other people at the club may think differently and that Newcastle have been offered the chance to sign Diaby this summer.
He said: “That’s another name on Newcastle’s radar and fans should sort of understand that when I say ‘radar’, the way the window works is you don’t just draw up a shortlist of players you want – you have backups and you have those that are offered to you.
Should NUFC spend £40 million on Diaby?
Yes!
No!
“And Moussa Diaby falls into the category of a player that has been offered to them by Bayer Leverkusen, but the quoted price is sort of £37-38m, up to – some say – £41-42m, and that’s a pretty hefty price to pay.”
TIF Thoughts on Diaby interest…
The ‘lethal’ French winger has been linked with a move away this summer but has also spoken of a return to former club Paris Saint-Germain, although Football Insider has gone one step further and claimed that Leverkusen are wanting closer to £60m for Diaby. Therefore, it appears that a move to Tyneside is unlikely at this stage, as even paying over £40m would mean welcoming a new club-record transfer.
Newcastle fans will surely be gutted to see them not move for Diaby given how exciting it would be to have him on one wing and Allan Saint-Maximin on the other, as between them last season, they managed 6.9 successful dribbles per 90.