Newcastle United target Bo Hegland has now spoken about the transfer interest around him, making it clear a summer exit was never really on his agenda.
That does not necessarily close the door on Newcastle for much longer. The midfielder’s comments are specifically about the summer and spending the rest of this season with Djurgården.
Fotbollskanalen have published his comments from an interview with Bollklubben.
“For me, it was quite simple this summer. There were many people asking me if there was a chance I would leave, but it was just full focus on Djurgården,” Hegland said.
“As you can perhaps see, it’s fun to play for Djurgården. I’m enjoying playing in a good football team and winning a lot of matches. That has been the attitude all along.”
Newcastle interest came during superb season
Norwegian broadcaster TV2 reported towards the end of the summer that Newcastle were among the clubs looking at Hegland.
Representatives from the Magpies then watched him against Mjällby. Anderlecht and Lorient were also credited with concrete interest.
Expressen reported on Tuesday that Hegland actually turned down the opportunity to join Anderlecht. In the end, the 21-year-old just wanted to finish the season with Djurgården. They are fighting for the Allsvenskan title, giving him another pretty obvious reason to stay.
His performances have certainly justified Newcastle keeping an eye on him. Hegland scored and assisted in Monday’s 2-0 victory over GAIS.
That took him to eight goals and 15 assists in the league this year. His 15th assist also saw him equal the Allsvenskan record.
Sweden’s season finishes at the end of November, so Hegland would only have a few weeks to wait before the January transfer window opens.
Summer stance doesn’t necessarily apply to winter
There could be a silver lining for Newcastle here though. Hegland seems to be already looking further ahead. And he isn’t making any promises about what happens once Djurgården’s season is finished.
“You know that it’s a short way out, but there has been full focus on Djurgården this summer and that feels good,” he said.
Hegland had no intention of interrupting Djurgården’s season to move abroad. Once the campaign is over, the situation can be looked at again.
With eight goals and 15 assists already, his stock isn’t exactly going down in the meantime.
