Newcastle reportedly came close to signing Lukaku in January.
Jordan Lukaku’s name has almost been forgotten by Newcastle United fans after his near-imminent move to St. James’ Park on loan from Lazio in January reportedly fell through due to a medical – and they made the right decision.
Sky Sports claim 24-year-old Lukaku was on the verge of completing a loan-to-buy move to Newcastle, only for the Premier League side to cancel a deal as a medical showed a problem with left-back’s knee.
The decision to cancel Lukaku’s loan move was met with frustration by Toon fans, with the club yet to sign anyone in January at that point. Matt Ritchie has been playing on the left side of the defence.
Lazio manager Simone Inzaghi was quoted by Sky Italy’s Gianluca Di Marzio as saying that he could not understand why a deal had been cancelled: “Lukaku proved he was in good shape, otherwise he wouldn’t have played against Napoli.”
Lukaku, younger brother of Manchester United striker Romelu, featured for 45 minutes of that match against Napoli on January 20. Immediately after the clash, Newcastle became interested.
But he had returned to Lazio by the time of the Serie A side’s next match, a home game against Italian champions Juventus. He failed to feature, and it was the same story for the next two games – Frosinone and Empoli.
The reason for Lukaku’s omission is down a knee cap/patella injury, according to TransferMarkt – the very reason why Newcastle decided against signing the defender.
Last season, Newcastle sign striker Islam Slimani from Leicester City on loan after missing out on Nicolai Jorgensen – and the Algeria international managed just four appearances for the Tyneside club.
Newcastle were seemingly conscious of that and they have certainly made the right decision concerning Lukaku – especially considering that a £19million permanent clause had been included (Niewusblad).
Receive exclusive football transfer news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
