Newcastle United and Tottenham’s plans to sign Noah Okafor from RB Salzburg in the summer may have been dealt a severe blow as he faces up to three months on the sidelines.
Salzburg sports director Christoph Freund has today confirmed his star man suffered a metatarsal fracture in the recent 0-0 draw with LASK.
“Obviously that’s not ideal,” he told Sky Austria in their studio on Wednesday.
“Noah was repeatedly handicapped with minor injuries, he’s not really in shape now. He still had big plans for the final of the championship, which is of course bitter.
“Some clubs are still interested because of course they’ve been following him for a long time. He had surgery today; everything went well and we hope he’ll be back in two to three months.”
That comes as a huge blow for the 22-year-old, who had look set for a potential move to the Premier League this summer.
Two reports since the beginning of last month had put Tottenham in the mix, with it claimed in March that they had initiated contact over a deal before another stated Salzburg were expecting a bid for him.
Newcastle were then thrown into the mix earlier this month, with it claimed that they were following him as a potential addition to their forward line this summer.
That has now been thrown into jeopardy, though, with his latest injury set to leave him on the treatment table for a few months at least.
How he recovers from that will be key to deciding his future, with the interested parties surely keeping an eye on him before deciding anything.
That is likely the case for Newcastle and Tottenham, whose plans may now be on hold after showing interest in the last few months.
