Dennis Praet interested Newcastle United in the summer window.
Newcastle United spent the last month of the transfer window chasing Sampdoria playmaker Dennis Praet.
According to The Sun, the Magpies had a £17.5 million bid turned down toward the end of August, but it might be a blessing in disguise by virtue of the fact the Belgian still hasn’t done much in Italy.
It was a questionable bid because Praet, according to his statistics, is a questionable player.
The 23-year-old scored and created just one goal in 36 games for the Italian outfit last season and on paper he is hardly the creative spark which Newcastle need.
And he hasn’t started this season much better, failing to score or set up a single goal in six Serie A outings for Sampdoria.
Of course, Newcastle boss Rafael Benitez is something of a statistician so he will know all about the Belgian’s record, but it remains somewhat puzzling that he was willing to make Praet his most expensive summer signing in spite of the stats.
It will be interesting to see whether the Spaniard renews an interest in January or whether he decides that he probably dodged a bullet by seeing a bid turned down.
It’s also worth remembering that Sampdoria did turn it down, which might suggest they know he has a lot of talent despite the statistics perhaps suggesting otherwise.
Or else they simply got greedy and tried to pull Newcastle’s pants down over the price, but time will tell whether he’s a pretender or one that got away for Benitez.
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