This month, we saw Newcastle United getting linked to Francisco Trincão, with reports from both Brazil and Portugal saying the Magpies were keen on his signing.
The forward belongs to Barcelona, but is loaned to Sporting and expected to be bought at the end of the season. So it was always clear the Premier League side would need to negotiate the fee directly with the Lions.
It turns out that as Portuguese newspaper Record today writes about Trincão and his new contract with the Lisbon club, there’s not very exciting news for Newcastle.
Newcastle were one of the clubs who ‘quickly’ heard that response. It’s said the Magpies ‘asked’ about Trincão and were told the Lions are not letting him go.
Sporting are only spending €7m to buy Trincão from Barcelona, and that’s quite a bargain.
Perhaps the only way the Premier League could convince them to make a deal now is by convincing the Portuguese club of what a quick profit they could be about to make if Newcastle were to agree to trigger his release clause, for example.