Worrying 'exclusive' claims NUFC star is unsettled & wants to leave the club today
According to an exclusive from TeamTALK, Matt Ritchie wants to leave Newcastle to move closer to his family down south - claiming he's 'hoping' to seal a deadline day move away TODAY.
I wouldn't be surprised to hear if Ritchie was unsettled - with him being a player who's struggled to find his top form for a while now - however I can NOT see a situation where we sanction his move away today.
He's a key figure in the squad and one of our main senior players, so any move would require us to replace him with a significant signing.
Here's a snippet from TEAMtalk's exclusive, followed by Lee Ryder's take on the 'news':
'TEAMtalk understands Matt Ritchie wants to leave Newcastle and move further south.
'The Hampshire-born winger, who signed from Bournemouth in 2016, wants to move closer to his family and is hoping to seal a move away from the club on deadline day.
'His possible departure coincides with the arrival of £20.5m record signing of Miguel Almiron from MLS side Atlanta.'
So, Ryder thinks it's 'agent-drive', however he refuses to deny claims that the winger is unsettled.
He does insist that it would take a 'huge bid' for us to sell AND a replacement would need to arrive - so I really can't see how this one happens with 9 hours of the window left to run.
*UPDATE* - Confirmed that he will 'definitely NOT' be leaving today:
