‘Hard sell’: Rio Ferdinand reckons Newcastle could still struggle to sign £165,000-a-week player

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Speaking on his YouTube channel, Rio Ferdinand has been speaking about Mauro Icardi’s situation amid links to Newcastle United.

Icardi has been linked to Newcastle in recent days, and while that would be a very exciting signing, Ferdinand thinks it’s one that the Magpies will struggle to pull off.

Indeed, the Manchester United legend thinks that due to the fact Newcastle isn’t as glamorous a city as Paris, the Magpies may struggle to convince Icardi to move, stating that it’s a ‘hard sell’.

What’s been said?

Ferdinand gave his view on the Icardi rumours.

“That’s one thing you have to consider as well, Paris or Newcastle? What are you going to do, it’s a hard sell that sometimes. The Geordies know that it’s going to be hard to attract players, but now they have the financial muscle to take that out of the equation. A player will sometimes think ‘I can go to Paris, Milan or London and get X amount of money, but I can double that or triple that in Newcastle.’ That could be the deciding factor now with the money they have to spend,” Ferdinand said.

Need to pay

The reality is that if Newcastle want to attract these players they need to pay hefty wages.

Icardi is reportedly on €10m-a-year (£165,000-a-week) right now, but the Magpies may have to pay him a lot more than that to convince him to make this switch.

As Ferdinand says, with all due respect, Newcastle is no Paris and in all honesty, United can’t compete with PSG on the sporting front right now.

The Magpies may have to pay extortionate amounts as they begin to build their project.