Newcastle dealt harsh reality check following Felix Nmecha links
Newcastle United fans were treated to a rare bit of hope last week as the Magpies were linked with a move for Germany star Felix Nmecha.
As the Magpies look for someone to replace Sandro Tonali, who looks destined to leave this summer, Borussia Dortmund's Felix Nmecha was floated as a real target for a good few hours before reality hit.
It was less than 24 hours of hope before it was taken away again when sources inside Newcastle United rubbished the claims, citing that the 25-year-old is simply too expensive.
There have been reports that Newcastle's budget this summer is pretty meagre, which doesn't really make a lot of sense given the exit of Anthony Gordon, and when you add to that whatever we inevitably get for Tonali, surely we can aim a bit higher.
Felix Nmecha would have rejected Newcastle anyway
Regardless of the realities of Newcastle's budget, it wouldn't have made a whole lot of difference in the pursuit of Felix Nmecha anyway.
Manchester United, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and even Manchester City are all keen on Nmecha, and German outlet Bild (via Metro) reports that the former Man City academy star favours a move to Man United or would return to Man City.
Felix Nmecha has a £75.6m release clause, but that doesn't become active until 2027, and Dortmund are demanding €100 million (£86 million) this summer.
Legacy still counts for a lot
Once again, the harsh reality that we're not as big a club as we'd like to believe has slapped us in the face.
Not that we really have anything to boast about after last season, but it's clear that legacy is more important than recent success to some players, and that was never clearer than last year when the likes of Manchester United and Chelsea were still beating us to players despite us having a much better season than both.
Let's hope that these rumours around Johan Manzambi are true, and we can finally make some more progress in the window after the encouraging start we made by signing Ewen Jaouen.
