Adanaspor’s Jordan Lukaku has told So Foot that Newcastle United made an attempt to sign him earlier in his career.
The 30-year-old spent six years at Lazio before leaving them as a free agent in 2022. He had a short spell at lower division Spanish side Ponferradina and then joined the Turkish club in August 2023.
During his time with the Serie A side, Newcastle showed interest in the left-back. This was when Rafael Benítez was in charge at the Tyneside club.
The Belgian has said Benítez was keen on bringing him to St James’ Park and that his side had sent a €21m bid to Lazio. Igli Tare was the Italian club’s sporting director between 2008 and 2023.
Lukaku spoke about Newcastle’s approach when giving an insight into why he wasn’t pleased with Tare and Lazio.
“Not even being able to climb the stairs when you are young and a top athlete, it hurt. I had to go on loan to play again, and show myself again,” he said.
“They had allowed Durmisi to leave the club, so I couldn’t leave, otherwise Lulić would find himself alone at the left-back position. It was healthy competition despite his captaincy, I was playing. What I didn’t like was Lazio’s speech.
“The sporting director thought that in any case, I had no choice but to stay, because according to him, the clubs would not come for me. The next day I brought an offer of €21m from Newcastle just to show him.
“Before the medical examination in England, I had relapsed against Naples. I knew that I was going to fail, but I still went there to show Lazio that I wasn’t finished. Benítez wanted me, I even took the photo, but once again the injuries caught up with me.”
Lukaku hasn’t mentioned the timeframe or the transfer window when Newcastle made an offer to sign him. This is likely to be in the winter market of 2019 as there were claims in Italy back then about the Magpies’ interest in the player.
