Arthur Cabral was linked with a number of Premier League clubs during the January transfer window, as he got ready to leave FC Basel for a new adventure.
Leeds United were said to be in the picture, although it was West Ham United who were linked the most, with claims coming from the striker’s home country, Brazil, that the Hammers had made an approach and an offer was being formulated.
For whatever reason, nothing happened in that regard, and Cabral joined Fiorentina, although it could have been Newcastle United instead.
The 23-year-old is now part of Fiorentina’s plan to replace Dusan Vlahovic, who was himself linked with Newcastle before signing for Juventus last month. There’s obviously going to be a lot of pressure on the Brazilian, but he’s not the only replacement who has been brought in to cope with the Serbian’s loss.
Fiorentina.it quote Luis Portela as saying: “Previously the Newcastle sporting director had contacted me for information on a possible operation, and we did some video-calls. As well as the president of Zenit, in addition to the Germans of Wolfsburg. In the past we had also received polls from Atalanta and Genoa.”
It wasn’t to be, but if Newcastle want to take Cabral from Fiorentina in the future, they’ll likely have the funds to do so.
