‘Wants to stay’: £30m ace not keen on Newcastle or Aston Villa move

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Ibrahim Sangare ‘really wants to stay’ at PSV Eindhoven despite reports of a £30 million move to Premier League trio Aston Villa, Newcastle United or Leicester City, coach Ruud van Nistelrooy tells Voetbal International. 

With Ajax in transition, a window of opportunity appears to have opened up for PSV ahead of Van Nistelrooy’s debut season in first-team management.

Keep a highly talented crop of players together and a side who finished just two points off the top of the Eredivisie table in 2021/22 could go one better in 2022/23.

PSV lost Mario Gotze to Eintracht Frankfurt this week but the early signs look good as Van Nistelrooy endeavours to keep the likes of Cody Gakpo, Noni Madueke and the aforementioned Sangare at the Phillips Stadium. 

Interest in England U21 international Madueke appears to have dried up after a difficult couple of months. Van Nistelrooy is confident that Gakpo will stay, with Arsenal and Tottenham looking elsewhere. 

And Sangare, according to the legendary Manchester United striker, has seemingly informed his new boss that he hopes to remain a PSV player for at least another ten months. 

Aston Villa, Newcastle and Leicester like Ibrahim Sangare

“I would prefer to know as soon as possible whether (my key players) are staying. The sooner the better, but we are dealing with the transfer deadline,” says Van Nistelrooy, promoted from the youth team following Roger Schmidt’s move to Benfica.

“I know from Sangare that he really wants to stay. (Staying at) PSV is absolutely no punishment for him.”

The £30 million-rated Ivorian has been linked with, among others, Aston Villa, Newcastle and Leicester so far this summer. That was before Villa struck a deal for Boubacar Kamara, however, while Newcastle appear to be prioritising alternative targets. 

But Van Nistelrooy is under no illusions. The sign-low, sell-high, make-do-and-mend nature of PSV’s transfer policy means that, if a big-money offer arrives, Sangare is unlikely to be retained. 

“Of course, we also know how the market works,” Van Nistelrooy adds. “If clubs come with the right financial resources, it could be difficult to keep these players.”