Well, this is a story that doesn’t appear to be going away this summer. Newcastle United’s chase for West Bromwich Albion striker Salomon Rondon is now said to have stalled again.
It appeared in recent days that the transfer of Aleksandar Mitrovic had removed some of the nonsense speculation that we’d seen on the rumour mill relating to the deal but today it seems to be back with a bang following on from a report this morning by Sky Sports.
With Rondon clearly being somebody we don’t overly wish to sell as we harbour hopes of bouncing back to the Premier League at the first time of asking following relegation last season, Sky have claimed that talks between both clubs have now stalled as we continue to be unable to find agreement on the financial side of the package.
They suggest it’s a loan swap for Dwight Gayle but we won’t pay his wages, and furthermore, we will not agree to outright purchase him next summer.
The missing part in this story is given Rondon’s relegation release clause and a reported fee of £17million – where has that gone in the deal and what are they valuing Gayle at?
The Chronicle have a completely different story, however, and suggest that Gayle is simply unwilling to quit the club and return to the second tier of football as he wants his shot in the Premier League and is prepared to fight for it.
The indication is that our offer to him is just not enough to tempt him and they claim West Brom are insisting Gayle is part of the deal as opposed to Newcastle.
I can see this running until deadline day!
