It was reported last week that Newcastle United wanted to sign Manchester United attacker Anthony Martial.
According to The Sun, Saudi Public Investment Fund are interested in bringing the France international to the relegation-threatened Magpies in January.
Martial appears to have little chance of turning around his prospects at Old Trafford, having managed only 200 minutes of Premier League football this season.
The 26-year-old would be a brilliant signing for Newcastle but is it going to happen? Potentially not.
Sky Sports have claimed that the former Monaco attacker is interested in joining Sevilla in Spain.
And comments by French journalist Julien Laurens offers even more bad news for Newcastle in their reported pursuit.
Laurens claims that Monchi – the Liga club’s sporting director – has been following Martial since he was only a teenager.
He told ESPN: “It’s interesting because Monchi clearly knows him well from a long, long time ago at Lyon, even before going to Monaco. I think he’s been following him for many, many years now. This is typically the type of signing Sevilla and Monchi are good at – relaunching the career of somebody who’s very, very talented.”
Blow for PIF?
In a word, yes.
If what Laurens says is true then the Sevilla chief is a massive fan of the attacker.
And having been an admirer for so many years, he is going to do everything he can to beat Newcastle and anyone else to the signature.
It’s also a blow because Martial will know about Monchi’s long-standing interest – again, if true – and no doubt that sort of belief will appeal to a player who hasn’t been afforded a lot of faith in recent years.
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