OPINION
Newcastle United are wasting their time by bidding for Liverpool forward Danny Ings as he is too expensive for the club to realistically pursue.
The Times reported on Saturday that the Magpies, Leicester City and Southampton had all bid for the 25-year-old forward but that Crystal Palace led the race for his signature.
The newspaper stated that the Reds had told Ings to find a new club for next season but also claimed that the Merseyside giants wanted £20million for his services.
While in a dream world, Rafa Benitez would have these sort of funds to spend on acquiring a player based on the Magpies’ transfer activity so far that doesn’t look like being the case.
Also given the level of interest in the forward, who earns £60,000-a-week at Anfield currently (Source: Total Sportek), he could even go for more than £20million as a bidding war could occur.
This means the Magpies are effectively in a race for a player that looks out of their reach which means they’re wasting time that they simply don’t have.
Transfer deadline, August 9, is mere weeks away and Benitez’s squad still needs new faces to arrive and the Magpies can’t afford to chase players they’re simply not going to get.
Also as Ings is likely on the chopping block due to his known-injury problems, he only made eight league appearances last season, surely the Magpies won’t gamble making him their record signing.
The most the Magpies have ever spent on signing one player was £16million, as reported by the Chronicle, which they invested in Michael Owen in 2005.
So it’s highly unlikely that the Magpies are going to uncharacteristically spend big on a player who is a massive risk and could end up spending the majority of his time at St James Park in the medical room.
Therefore the Magpies must abort their pursuit of Ings immediately as they’re just wasting time trying to recruit him this summer.
