On the face of it, signing a player who’s not even a regular starter for the team stuck to the bottom of the Premier League would not increase expectations of a ‘Great Escape’ at St James’ Park.
According to The Sun, Norwich City have made Todd Cantwell available for transfer.
Newcastle United are interested and it is believed a deal can be struck for £15 million, with just two-thirds of that fee being paid up front.
But before you jump at the chance to point out that Cantwell has hardly taken the league by storm this season, starting just two games since the end of August, it’s worth casting your mind back to the 2019/20 season.
Less than two years ago, Cantwell was one of Premier League’s rising stars.
According to The Athletic, a soon-to-be title-winning Liverpool side were even considering a big-money deal that would have seen the so-called ‘Dereham Deco’ join Jurgen Klopp’s star-studded squad for a cool £30 million.
Liverpool’s interest made perfect sense, too.
Cantwell looked tailor-made for the Merseyside giants; highly technical, superb in possession and boasting an appetite for the big occasion.
In his debut top-flight campaign, the Norwich academy graduate scored against Everton, Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester City, not to mention thwacking home a long-range screamer in an FA Cup clash with Manchester United.
Can Todd Cantwell star again at Newcastle United?
At the time, there did not appear to be all that much separating Cantwell from another stylish, left-sided playmaker in the shape of Jack Grealish.
Flash forward to 2021 and, while one is now the most expensive footballer in English history, the other has been made put up for sale at about a tenth of the £100 million fee Man City paid for Grealish.
If as expected Cantwell does go this month – to a bonafide relegation rival in the shape of Newcastle United no less – it will be a sad end to a story that once looked like a fairytale in the making.
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