Diego Laxalt’s agent has confirmed that the Uruguayan international would prefer to stay at AC Milan this summer, despite reports linking him with Newcastle United.
It was reported by journalist Nicolo Schira on his personal Twitter account that Newcastle were pursuing a deal for Laxalt, who is reportedly rated at £10.7million by the Italian giants.
In uscita dal #Milan c'è sempre Diego #Laxalt: in Italia piace a #Torino e #Atalanta, mentre all'estero occhio al ritorno di fiamma del #Newcastle, che ci aveva già provato a gennaio. Valutazione 12 milioni. #calciomercato
— Nicolò Schira (@NicoSchira) June 15, 2019
The utility man’s agent has seemingly put an end to the rumours on the Chronicle’s live blog (18/06, 1:55 pm) by saying his client wishes to remain at Milan and has put his future in the hands of the club, who will decide his future.
He was quoted by the newspaper as saying: “Diego wants to stay at Milan. In the past year he has felt very good in Milan and wants to stay and take his chances.”
Laxalt can play anywhere on the left-hand side and struggled for consistent game time at the San Siro this season. The 18-cap international featured 20 times in the Serie A, with only 16% of those coming from the starting line-up.
OPINION
This seems to all put finish the potential signing of Diego Laxalt for Newcastle. With the Uruguayan’s agent claiming his client his happy in Milan, if a move was to happen it would most likely be to another Italian club – with both Torino and Atalanta reportedly interested. This will no doubt be a kick in the teeth for Newcastle, who could have gained a player with World Cup experience for the relatively cheap reported price of £10.7million. With the 26-year-old being able to play anywhere on the left-hand side he would have been the perfect addition to the Magpies’ five at the back system as a wing-back. Not only is Laxalt comfortable in defence, averaging 1.3 tackles per game, he would have also offered suitable attacking experience out wide as a wingback under Rafael Benitez – averaging over 20 passes a game (21.2), and averaging a 77.5% pass success rate on top of that. [WhoScored]
