On Tuesday, AS in Spain revealed that Newcastle were one of a handful of clubs trying to sign Real Madrid midfielder Marcos Llorente.
The 23-year-old, who had a great season with Alaves last year, has been used very sporadically by Zinedine Zidane, with most of his appearances coming in the Copa del Rey, and there was allegedly some reluctance in seeing him go.
However, the very same outlet change their tune a bit on Wednesday, claiming the player ‘still has the option to leave’ in January if he so wishes.
As well as Newcastle’s offer, which is already said to be on the player’s table, the young midfielder is said to have the option to go to his former loan club Alaves, as well as Deportivo La Coruña, who were labelled the main competition for Rafa Benitez in AS’ previous report.
Despite Zidane’s decision to not bring in any more players and stick with his current squad, the Spanish newspaper state ‘there are always surprises’ in the last few hours of the transfer market.
Could Marcos Llorente to St James’ Park be one of them?