Journalist Lee Ryder has played down talk that Newcastle United are interested in signing Spartak Moscow striker Ze Luis.
Ryder revealed on The Chronicle’s news and transfer centre [18:49] that he has been told there is nothing in place regarding Luis from the Magpies’ side despite reports to the contrary.
“We’re told that there is nothing in place on Ze Luis,” wrote the journalist.
“It’s a name that has been put to Newcastle chiefs in the past, but there is nothing new in terms of an approach.
“Whether his name is being bandied around by his agent is another matter. But it’s not a name on United’s list at this stage – and bearing in mind Mike Ashley’s stance on older players it would be unlikely.”
TEAMtalk claimed on Monday that Rafael Benitez’s side are eyeing the Cape Verde international as a £10million alternative if they don’t bring in Salomon Rondon on a permanent deal this summer.
However, Ryder asserts that Luis is not on Newcastle’s list of targets at this moment in time, particularly given that at 28 years of age he doesn’t fit in with Mike Ashley’s stance on signing younger players.
OPINION
This seems like a bit of a non-starter, doesn’t it? Luis is a solid player who has a decent record in Russia, but if anyone remembers Seydou Doumbia’s disastrous loan spell at St James’ Park they will know that success in that country doesn’t necessarily translate to the Premier League. Furthermore, as Ryder notes, Luis is only a year younger than Rondon, who is a player Ashley supposedly considers too old to sign on a permanent basis this summer. It doesn’t seem very likely that he would sanction Luis’s signing then, does it? Rondon is a similar age to Luis and has proven Premier League experience and is beloved by the Toon Army and Benitez. So it doesn’t seem that if Ashley were to relax his age restrictions that the club would sign Luis as a result rather than Rondon. It’s surely better that Newcastle target more proven top class operators than Luis if they don’t end up signing Rondon this summer.
