Miguel Almirón on Al-Shabab's radar as Newcastle transfer ...
Miguel Almirón on Al-Shabab’s radar as Newcastle transfer quandaries pile up
- Winger’s sale could ease financial strain but leave squad thin
- Kieran Trippier and Callum Wilson also attracting interest
Newcastle’s Miguel Almirón is the subject of interest from Saudi Arabia’s Al-Shabab. If the Riyadh club comes up with an attractive offer for a player who turns 30 next month it will leave Newcastle’s majority Saudi owners with a dilemma.
Selling Almirón could make financial sense for Newcastle as they strive to create room to invest in new players while remaining within the Premier League’s profit and sustainability rules (PSR). Yet with Eddie Howe’s slender squad debilitated by injuries, losing the winger would make sense only if a suitable replacement were lined up.
The same applies in the case of Callum Wilson, Howe’s England striker, who turns 32 next month and has attracted interest from Atlético Madrid and, fleetingly, Milan this month. However, the situation is slightly different with Kieran Trippier given that Newcastle possess another outstanding right-back in Tino Livramento.
Trippier trained with Newcastle on Monday as the club waited to see whether Bayern Munich would improve their bid. Although the England right-back is understood to be keen on joining Thomas Tuchel’s side, where he would be reunited with his former Tottenham teammates Harry Kane and Eric Dier, Trippier is not expected to cause problems if he ends up remaining on Tyneside.
Tuchel has made plain his admiration for the full-back, but it remains to be seen whether Bayern will produce an offer capable of persuading Newcastle to sell a player who cost them £12m two years ago and commands wages of about £120,000 a week.
Premier League rivals may raise eyebrows at the idea of Newcastle potentially circumventing PSR by selling Almirón to a Saudi club but there is nothing in the regulations to prevent this. Al-Shabab, six times Saudi champions, are not owned by the kingdom’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), which holds an 80% stake in the Tyneside club.
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