The Athletic have claimed that Newcastle United do not consider signing an attacking midfielder to be a priority this summer, which is why they decided against pursuing a deal for James Maddison.
It was widely reported over the last couple of months that Newcastle and Spurs were both keen on landing Maddison, with some reports suggesting as recently as a couple of weeks ago that the Magpies were ahead of Tottenham in the race for the 26-year-old (CaughtOffside).
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However, it was the Lilywhites who secured the England international’s services in a £40m deal after Eddie Howe’s men seemingly turned their attention to Sandro Tonali.
Newcastle did not see Maddison as a priority signing
The Athletic have now claimed that Newcastle did indeed have a ‘long-standing interest’ in Maddison but the position was not considered a priority for the club this summer.
It is explained that the Magpies have no intention of making any statement signing just for the sake of it as they are conscious of operating within the Financial Fair Play rules.
The Athletic quote an unnamed senior figure at Newcastle as saying: “We’ve said it a thousand times — financial fair play (FFP) is a restriction for us. There’s a strategy in place. It’s not random.
“We will go for big players but the price has to make sense and it’s all about what our needs are. At no point do we have the intention of making a statement signing.
“The intention is to get the right player, the right character, the right position, the right fit.”
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It was clear from the offset that Maddison was seen as a much more of a priority signing by Spurs and Postecoglou than he was by Newcastle.
I suspect that the Magpies were hoping that the attacking midfielder would push for a move to St James’ Park over Tottenham, thus making a deal easier for them to do.
However, the player seemingly preferred a switch to N17.
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