Newcastle United have been offered the chance to sign Lille midfielder Thiago Maia and Bournemouth winger Jordon Ibe, according to the Chronicle.
The newspaper claimed via their live transfer blog on Wednesday [04:36pm] that the two players have been touted to the Magpies but due to wage demands and it being the latter stages of the transfer window, deals for the pair are unlikely.
Le10Sport reported on Monday that Newcastle made a loan bid for defensive midfielder Maia while the Sun claimed that Bournemouth’s Ibe was also a Magpies target.
OPINION
It is a good job that these deals were not feasible because they are hardly ones that will give fans much to be excited about. Although Maia, 22, was a highly-rated Brazilian midfielder at Santos and did well in his debut season at Lille, he only managed 11 Ligue 1 starts last season and has failed to come anywhere near to reaching his potential. It was clear that Lille thought a lot of Maia when they signed him as there is a £50million release clause in his contract at the French club, according to the Sun. However they’d be lucky to even get 20 per cent of that for the Brazilian. As for Ibe, his career has gone down a similar route to Maia’s. At Liverpool he was touted to have a big future but since joining Bournemouth, the attacker has managed just five goals and nine assists in 88 appearances across all competitions. Ibe’s a versatile winger who can play on both flanks but mainly on the right. Allan Saint-Maximin does a similar job so signing Ibe would have been a bit of a waste.
