The clearout at Newcastle United continues.
What’s the latest Newcastle transfer news?
According to Greek outlet SportTime, Aris FC are in advanced talks with the club over a move for Yoshinori Muto.
Indeed, a deal between the two is believed to be close and the Japanese forward could become the latest of the deadwood at St James’ Park to finally leave. He, along with Andy Carroll and Henri Saviet could potentially free up some space on the wage bill, with Rolando Aarons and DeAndre Yedlin already having done so earlier this year.
How many goals did Muto score for Newcastle?
The 29-year-old certainly did not prove his worth on Tyneside.
While Muto is clearly not the only forward to have struggled at the club in recent years, he mustered only 2 goals in 28 games and was farmed out on loan to Eibar last season. There, he could only score once in 26 games, so it’s fair to say that goals have been a problem for him of late.
How bad a signing was Muto for Newcastle?
Terrible.
Back in February, the Daily Telegraph’s Luke Edwards even suggested that Newcastle had paid up to £14m to sign the player from Mainz in 2018, rather than the £9.5m initially reported.
If that were to be the case, only a handful of players in the club’s history would have been more expensive than Muto, which is really rather galling when you consider the chronic lack of investment in the team under Mike Ashley.
Perhaps the only positive here is that Newcastle are seemingly set to be free of his reported (via The Chronicle) £54k-per-week wages a year early, with his contract up in the summer of 2022 anyway.
