According to the Daily Mail, Newcastle’s pursuit of Mario Lemina has hit an impasse due to his age, despite the fact he’s only 27 years old.
Lemina isn’t a young up-and-comer by any means, but the Gabonese midfielder certainly isn’t over the hill, but apparently Newcastle are put off by the fact he’s turning 28 later this year.
Mike Ashley is reportedly reluctant to pay a fee for any player over the age of 27, and while that’s a fair policy due to the fact he wants to secure players with a solid resale policy, a reported £4m fee for Lemina shouldn’t break the bank for any Premier League side.
This is just the latest of a number of questionable transfer decisions made by Ashley at Newcastle, and we’ll have to wait and see whether or not the Magpies will change their stance on Lemina.
We can understand not signing ageing players, but at just 27, Lemina could easily have the best part of a decade ahead of him.
Lemina has a lot of talent. After all, he’s played for Juventus in a Champions League final before, so passing up on a player of this calibre because of his age does seem rather ridiculous.
It’s certainly a risky transfer policy for Newcastle to be following this summer.
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