Speaking on the Transfer Window Podcast, Duncan Castles has claimed that Newcastle United have an interest in Manchester United centre-half Eric Bailly.
The Ivorian is currently away at the African Cup of Nations, but that hasn’t stopped him being the subject of plenty of transfer speculation this month.
Indeed, he’s been linked to both Tottenham and AC Milan, and now it seems as though Newcastle are keen on him.
However, unfortunately for the Magpies, it seems as though this will be a tough deal to broker.
Indeed, Castles claims that Newcastle believe other Premier League clubs are unwilling to sell to them this month unless their players have release clauses, and for that reason, they think Bailly will be very difficult to land.
What’s been said about Bailly?
Castles shared an update on the Magpies’ transfer intentions.
“There has been an open discussion amongst the Newcastle recruitment team that it is going to be next to impossible to take any players from other Premier League clubs apart from Manchester City in this window. They feel there is a silent pact against them where clubs have agree not to allow their players to move to Newcastle while they’re fighting relegation. Therefore, the only way they can do it with a release clause as they did with Chris Wood,” Castles said.
The journalist went on to speak about Newcastle’s hunt for a new centre-back later in the podcast.
“They’re looking at multiple targets for this position and working on multiple deals. As I said, they don’t think they can get other players from the Premier League, one option would have been Eric Bailly at Manchester United, but because he doesn’t have a release clause, they think it would have been difficult,” Castles added.
Better out there
Newcastle think that it will be very tough to land Bailly, and to be honest, that’s probably not a bad thing.
Bailly, as talented as he is, isn’t exactly the most reliable centre-back in the world. He’s very eccentric and when you’re battling relegation, there’s no room for that type of player.
Newcastle would be better off going into Europe and landing a defender who is much more trustworthy than Bailly.
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