It appears there’s a bit of a situation brewing around Grégoire Defrel and a potential transfer to Newcastle.
We noticed a story published on TuttoMercatoWeb about it, claiming the Magpies had offered €15m for the Frenchman’s services, but immediately saw it came from ANSA, Italy’s Associated Press National Agency, the country’s leading wire service.
TMW made that very clear, so we went to have a look on ANSA’s website, and there is indeed a story about Defrel being sent to Newcastle, with the forward ‘very close’ to a transfer.
However, the report states the news comes from England, so that’s where we looked next.
It appears that, along the way, €15m has been thrown into the mix, which is a bit less than what Roma, who still own the player, would have received from Sampdoria should they have decided to make the move permanent for next summer (around €18m, according to various reports).
So, depending on who you want to believe, Newcastle could be interested, but as for a bid of €15m being made, we can’t really see where that originated from.
It just sounds like a vague story has been twisted, at least for the time being, into something it isn’t.
