Hugo Ekitike has told Reims that he wants to stay at the Ligue 1 club while hammering the final nail into Newcastle United’s coffin, head coach Oscar Garcia tells RMC of his Premier League-linked forward.
The list of players linked with a big-money move to St James’ Park since that Saudi Arabian takeover is – to borrow one of Malcolm Tucker’s less sweary phrases – ‘longer than a Leonard Cohen song’.
There will be no Hallilujah moment for Eddie Howe regarding one of Newcastle’s most long-standing targets however.
After months of speculation, Fabrizio Romano reported earlier this week that the Magpies had ‘no intention’ of attempting to jump-start negotiations with Ekitike. A dead horse, as they say, really doesn’t benefit from flogging.
Newcastle United miss out on Hugo Ekitike
For the second time since the turn of the year, Newcastle agreed a fee with Reims (The Telegraph). That initial confidence soon turned to frustration, however, with Ekitike harbouring obvious reservations about a move to St James’ Park.
“He told me he wanted to stay,” says former Brighton boss Garcia, pointing out that only a colossal offer from a bonafide footballing superpower would change Ekitike’s mind at this stage.
“But if Real Madrid or Barcelona are coming…
“Hugo feels calm. I have spoken with him. He will have no problem staying at the club and neither will I!”
Reims president Jean-Pierre Caillot confirmed in June that he had received a ‘concrete’ offer from an ‘English club’. And while he didn’t mention Newcastle by name, you didn’t need Derren Brown to tell you who he was talking about.
“I have a lot of respect for that big club. But it was all happening very quickly, and the timing wasn’t right. It was better to stay here, to play a full season, to establish myself,” Ekitike told L’Equipe in March, explaining why a winter move to Tyneside didn’t happen either.
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