Newcastle United are set to miss out on Maximo Perrone with Manchester City now on the verge of signing the Velez Sarsfield ace.
That’s according to transfer insider Fabrizio Romano, who claims that City are about to pay Perrone’s release clause.
Romano claims that the release clause figure stands at around $8million (£6.6million) with the ‘here we go expected soon’.
Perrone will join up with City after the 2023 South American Under-20 Championship in Colombia.
This is terrible news for Newcastle United, who has been favourites to sign Perrone in recent months.
Velez670 reported in November that Newcastle were preparing a first offer to sign Perrone in 2023.
Velez A Fondo – as translated by Newcastle World – even claimed that sporting director Christian Bassedas headed to England in November to discuss a transfer.
It was suggested that Newcastle were the club pushing to sign Perrone but their hopes have been dashed by City.
This continues City’s moves in the Argentinian market after deals for Nahuel Bustos, Dario Sarmiento and Julian Alvarez in recent times.
Who is Newcastle and Manchester City target Maximo Perrone?
Perrone, 19, has come up through the Velez ranks and is now an important first-team player.
A combative defensive midfielder, Perrone has racked up an astonishing 13 yellow cards in just 33 games for Velez.
Former Velez boss and Manchester United defender Gabriel Heinze had very high hopes for Perrone having seen him emerge during their time together.
As quoted by Goal, Heinze branded Perrone as ‘spectacular’, seemingly seeing a huge future ahead for the midfield maestro.
Perrone has picked up one cap for Argentina’s Under-20’s and many expect him to nail down senior caps in the years to come.
Landing himself a big move to City is a great start, but only time will tell whether that move is best for his development, or whether he could have been better off at Newcastle.
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