While the stories surrounding Newcastle United’s interest in Serhou Guirassy might have gone down in the past week or so, that doesn’t mean the Magpies aren’t still keen.
After all, they were said to have come knocking just before New Year’s for the prolific striker, who is currently with Guinea’s national team ahead of the Africa Cup of Nations.
He limped off in the friendly against Nigeria, causing some concern about a potential transfer, and Sport Bild have an article about his situation, giving us some new information in the process.
There is a question as to whether the Newcastle United target will be fit enough for the first group game of the competition against Cameroon on January 15th, with neither club nor country able to give information about the severity of his thigh problem.
It’s said this comes at an ‘inopportune time’ in the middle of the January transfer window, as he is allowed to leave if his release clause of around €20m (€17.5m+ depending on who triggers it) is paid.
While Newcastle aren’t specifically mentioned, it’s explained this injury could ‘deter potential interested parties’, who have a deadline to meet to get him for cheap.
That’s because Bild reveal his winter exit clause ‘should only be valid until mid-January’, meaning the start of the Africa Cup of Nations on Saturday.
As things stand, he has ‘not yet received an offer’, and the belief is that it’s ‘unlikely’ that any ‘concrete negotiations’ with clubs will take place by then.
We’ll have to wait and see, but the general feeling is that he will stay at Stuttgart for now, unless Newcastle or other interested parties rush to get a deal done for a player currently injured.
