Mike Ashley refused to match Brentford’s bid for Kristoffer Ajer, Nothing But Newcastle can exclusively reveal.
What’s the latest Newcastle transfer news?
Back in May, we revealed that the Norwegian central defender was Steve Bruce’s primary target as the Newcastle manger attempted to strengthen his backline, all while working on a limited budget.
Indeed, with Ajer’s Celtic contract up in the summer of 2022, it’s easy to see why he’d be an attractive proposition. An experienced international with a huge amount of sell-on value at the age of 23, signing him cheaply would certainly make sense.
So, what happened?
Well, as is always seemingly the case with Ashley’s Newcastle, they were outspent.
While that might just be how life works for teams outside the monied elite, the fact that newly-promoted Brentford (with all due respect) are now capable of beating Newcastle to signings is exactly the reason the owner is held in such contempt on Tyneside.
According to information sent to NBN, Ashley was reluctant to go above £8m when it came to trying to sign Ajer and, at the time of the negotiations, was hopeful of the protracted takeover saga reaching a positive conclusion.
Clearly, that hasn’t happened and Ajer was recently confirmed as a Brentford player for a fee of around £13.5m.
Who have Newcastle been linked with?
With their main target now off the market, Tottenham Hotspur’s Cameron Carter-Vickers was recently mooted as a potential option for Newcastle by The Athletic.
The American international has worked with Graeme Jones at both Luton and Bournemouth before and is far down the pecking order in north London although Spurs could now be chasing a permanent deal, rather than agreeing to another loan.
