Newcastle United missed out on signing Michy Batshuayi from Premier League champions Chelsea in the summer – but a deal is still on the cards.
Even with Alvaro Morata taking a well-deserved rest in recent weeks, Michy Batshuayi has still not been trusted to lead the line at Chelsea.
Chelsea manager Antonio Conte has preferred to field Eden Hazard in a false nine position of late, meaning Batshuayi hasn’t started a game since Chelsea’s 2-1 EFL Cup win against Everton almost two months ago.
As such, a loan move away from Stamford Bridge in January appears to be the best course of action for Batshuayi, who cost Chelsea £32 million from Ligue 1 giants Marseille after he impressed at Euro 2016, as reported by The Sun.
ESPN claims that Newcastle United could be a temporary destination – The Magpies having failed to sign Batshuayi in the summer after the Premier League champions failed to find a replacement (most likely the Tottenham-bound Fernando Llorente).
But it appears that Newcastle are now in a much better position to lure Batshuayi to St James’ Park. Because The Chronicle states that Benitez still has a great relationship with Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich, harking back to his interim spell in charge of the London giants back in 2012/13.
And it is understood that Conte also values Benitez’s ability to develop players and was more than happy for Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Tammy Abraham and Kenedy to move to Tyneside on loan in the summer, only for all three deals to fall through.
So it seems that wages are the main, if not the only obstacle, preventing Newcastle from bringing Batshuayi to the north east at the second time of asking.
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