‘Should cost much more’: Manager baffled by Newcastle’s bargain buy

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Newcastle United paid just £210,000 to bring Rodrigo Vilca to the Premier League and, as Peru coach Ricardo Gareca tells EN24, it’s a real bargain buy.

The technically gifted attacking midfielder was due to become a free agent in summer 2021 but that alone fails to explain why Deportivo Municipal were willing to accept such a small fee for one of the most exciting talents to emerge out of Peru for many years.  

According to The Sun, Newcastle paid less than a quarter of a million to secure Vilca’s signature.

This is no spotty-faced teenager either.

At 21, Vilca was an established, top-level footballer in Peru with 29 appearances under his belt, not to mention an impressive tally of seven goals and assists.

No wonder Gareca, Peruvian national team boss since 2015, was left non-plussed by the price tag.

“It is good for Vilca and, the truth is, I wish him all the best,” says a slim-built, long-haired tactician who wouldn’t look out of place in a 1970s glam rock band.

“(But) if I analyse how much the player was sold for, I don’t like it. He should cost much more.”

Vilca is expected to feature for Newcastle’s U23 side initially, even if Steve Bruce’s transition towards a more attacking style suits a forward-thinking creator who is already being compared to Magpies’ Peruvian legend Nobby Solano.

Gareca, however, wonders whether a move to England at this stage is a classic case of ‘too much, too soon’.

“I would have preferred a much greater consolidation in the first division (in Peru),” he said.