Miguel Almiron personally blocked a move away from Newcastle United in the January transfer window, making it clear that he wanted to stay at St James Park.
That’s according to journalist Christian Martin, who has revealed all on the matter in a conversation with Versus.
The newspaper explains that there was a possibility for Almiron to leave Newcastle in January, with Al-Shabab in Saudi Arabia particularly interested.
Newcastle were open to the sale to help try and ease the financial situation at the club, with pressure on the Magpies to balance the books and comply with Financial Fair Play.
They needed a sale to do so and so the prospect of selling Almiron, who arrived for €24m in 2019 and would represent a good profit on the books, was a more than welcome one.
He did not end up departing, though, instead remaining a part of Eddie Howe’s side until the end of the season, a decision Martin reports was entirely the player’s.
“Miguel Almirón stopped the possibility from the start,” he said.
“’If it’s for me, I’ll stay,’ Miguel told Newcastle. The first offer of £17m was rejected. There was no agreement with the club and Miguel lowered his thumb, he wants to stay at Newcastle.”
Versus then add that Newcastle had in fact tried to stretch Al-Shabab to spending £30m on Almiron, as that’s the figure they need to ‘match their numbers’ and not get complicated with FFP.
That never happened as Almiron rejected a move anyway and so the ‘one chosen to be sold’ would be Bruno Guimaraes, who is set to join PSG for £30m according to them.
That’s very likely speculation on their part, since that’s far too cheap for the Brazilian, at this point but it’s a situation to keep an eye on the summer, with it increasingly clear someone at Newcastle needs to be sold for the finances to balance out.
