Chronicle journalist Lee Ryder has poured cold water on a report that said Newcastle had submitted a loan bid for 21-year-old Lille midfielder Thiago Maia.
French outlet Le 10 Sport claimed that Newcastle had made an offer to take the player on loan, with an option to buy.
However, talking on his personal Twitter page on Monday morning, Ryder said that no bid had been made, although he didn’t rule it out completely adding “at this stage”.
There has been no loan bid at this stage for Lille's Thiago Maia despite reports. #nufc
— Lee Ryder (@lee_ryder) July 9, 2018
One loan deal that does look like going through for Newcastle this week is that of Kenedy, who is expected to be announced this week.
OPINION
The 21-year-old Brazilian midfielder joined Lille from Santos last summer for £12.6million, and made 34 appearances in Ligue 1. The report from France had claimed that Newcastle had submitted the loan offer and that Lille had rejected it, but this takes the potential deal back even further. Interestingly, Ryder doesn’t discount the move out of hand, adding a qualifier to his tweet, but it does look like Newcastle have yet to firm up any interest in the youngster. Thankfully there’s much better news incoming for Newcastle with a deal for Maia’s fellow Brazilian Kenedy. Newcastle haven’t had a lot to celebrate this summer and Kenedy will bring some much needed cheer to the City. Then Rafa Benitez must focus on bringing in a striker. What Newcastle really need is goals and they seem to be a way off identifying a player who can score 15+ Premier league goals and who is affordable. That should be Benitez’s number one priority.
