Newcastle United failed to meet Valencia’s demands for La Liga centre-back Mouctar Diakhaby during a frustrating end to a miserable transfer window for Steve Bruce’s side, as reported by SuperDeporte.
It’s not often Newcastle supporters will find themselves agreeing with arguably the most under-fire manager in the whole of the Premier League. And, yes, that includes you Mikel.
But as a beleaguered Bruce opened up about his desire to bring in a new defender before Tuesday’s transfer deadline – telling the BBC that ‘we have to improve defensively’ – even his most vocal critic would have struggled to disagree.
After three games, Newcastle have picked up just one point while only Arsenal and Norwich City have conceded more goals thus far (nine).
They’ve given away needless penalties against both Aston Villa and Southampton – a 96th minute Jamaal Lascelles lunge costing Bruce a much-needed, morale-boosting win on Saturday – while Ciaron Clark and Federico Fernandez have done little to suggest they can be relied upon ahead of what looks destined to be another season of dread and disillusion on Tyneside.
And with wantaway owner Mike Ashley either unable or unwilling to invest, Newcastle missed out on Kristoffer Ajer to Brentford, William Saliba to Marseille and Cameron Carter-Vickers to Celtic.
Why did Newcastle not sign Mouctar Diakhaby?
Former France U21 international Mouctar Diakhaby, meanwhile, was keen on a move to the North East giants, knowing that he’d find regular game-time easier to come by at Newcastle than he would at Leicester City.
Diakhaby was available for just £9 million – far less than Valencia paid Lyon for his services back in 2018 – but it is understood that Newcastle never come close to meeting those demands, despite ‘strong interest’ in the Jorge Mendes client.
At a time where even Norwich City, Crystal Palace and Burnley invested heavily in new signings, Newcastle have not merely stood still – they’ve gone backwards, stumbling blindly into another relegation dogfight.
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