Having had an official bid for Hugo Ekitike accepted, Newcastle United are trying to convince the player to move to St James’ Park.
They have struggled to do so so far, and there have been a few articles suggesting that if he takes too long to decide his future, they could simply move on.
However, Newcastle were in a similar situation with Sven Botman and still signed him, so they might wait a bit longer, just in case.
Either way, it appears Ekitike has told something entirely different to his manager, Oscar Garcia, who held a press conference on Friday.
Relayed by RMC Sport, the Stade de Reims manager was asked about the future of his young striker, to which he replied: “He told me wanted to stay, but if there’s Real Madrid and Barcelona who come knocking… I find Hugo calm. I spoke with him. He will have no problem staying at the club, and neither will I.”
That doesn’t sound like a player desperate to move to Newcastle, so perhaps it might be time for the Magpies to cut their losses and look elsewhere?
The youngster was already the subject of interest from the Premier League club in January, but a deal failed to go through then as well.
