This latest Mike Ashley claim will absolutely infuriate NUFC fans - and Rafa Benitez..
According to the Northern Echo, Rafa Benitez is now pleading with Mike Ashley to finalise a deal for Miguel Almiron, however a move could now be 'shelved' with the NUFC owner likely to look at a 'cut-price' alternative.
To make matters worse, the story states that a 'framework' has been agreed to sign the Paraguayan - with us only needing Ashley's seal of approval to complete the deal - as well as Almiron himself showing a 'strong desire' to complete a move to St James' Park next month.
Here's a snippet from the Northern Echo's latest piece:
RAFAEL BENITEZ will urge the Newcastle United hierarchy to push through a club-record deal for Miguel Almiron – whether takeover talks progress in the next couple of weeks or not.
Newcastle have agreed the framework of a deal that would see Almiron leave Atlanta United to move to St James’ Park when the transfer window reopens at the start of next month, but Mike Ashley and Lee Charnley are still to give the go-ahead for the transfer to be completed.
Newcastle’s head of recruitment, Steve Nickson, flew to the United States last week to meet Almiron and his representatives, and the Paraguay international is understood to have expressed a strong desire to move to Tyneside.
Almiron looks a real talent and it's clear that he's high on Rafa's priority list in January, so let's hope something comes of this before long.
One issue (and it's a big one) is Ashely will be reluctant to spend big IF he's about to sell the club, so I'd imagine any movement on this front would indicate that a sale may be in place.
If he doesn't sell, however, it feels like we have next to no chance here - with any deal likely to smash our club record fee.
