Paris Saint Germain are not interested in a deal for Reims striker Hugo Ekitike but are simply being used to drive up the price in negotiations with Newcastle United.
That’s according to Le Parisien, who say his club are trying to use PSG as a way to force the Magpies to pay extra.
Ekitike has been heavily linked with a move away from the Ligue 1 club this summer after an impressive campaign that saw him score 11 goals in all competitions last season.
Newcastle are known to be big admirers and tried to get a deal over the line in January, only for that to fall by the wayside.
They’ve been linked again this summer, but several reports have made it clear the deal was off as Ekitike could instead be on the way to PSG.
Le Parisien insist that is not the case, though, explaining that the ‘PSG ticket’ is ‘driving up the price’ on the young striker.
According to them, the reported interest is simply a ‘smokescreen’ from Reims, who have let slip that PSG are interested in order to ‘secure a large transfer fee’.
They had already accepted a €36m plus €10m in bonuses offer from Newcastle, but that destination ‘does not seem to be favoured’ by the striker.
Thus, Reims are now seemingly on the lookout for another suitor and are trying to ramp up the price by pretending that PSG are interested.
