Newcastle United in the Race for World Class Defender
Newcastle United are reportedly in the race to sign £35m-rated Nicolas Otamendi from Valencia. Yes, that sentence sounds as surreal to you as it does to me.
Even to the most casual of football fans, the name Nicolas Otamendi will probably ring a bell. He's widely regarded as one of the best central defenders in world football, was a member of the La Liga Team of the Year, and has this summer been involved in a seemingly never ending tug-o-war between Valencia, Real Madrid, and Manchester United.
His situation depended on if Sergio Ramos joined Manchester United, and if he did, then Otamendi would move to Real Madrid, and it was thought that if Sergio Ramos stayed in Madrid then Otamendi would move to Manchester United. You get all that? Complicated, I know.
Well the latest news in the world of football is that Newcastle United are now lining up a shock move for the Argentine, as reported by Emanuele Giulianelli (@EmaGiulianelli). Now that name probably doesn’t mean a whole lot to you, but he’s a football writer for numerous publications such as FIFA Weekly, FourFourTwo and La Gazzetta dello Sport amongst others. He was also right about the Wijnaldum and Mitrovic transfers long before they were confirmed.
Now on the surface, this still seems massively far fetched for a club like Newcastle United. Firstly, Manchester United and Real Madrid are both after the player. Secondly, Valencia reportedly want £35m for the 27-year old. Those two reasons combined would normally be enough to dash any hopes, but are they?
Around the same time that Giulianelli reported the NUFC connection, it was reported that Manchester United would NOT move for Otamendi or any other defender, even though Sergio Ramos is now 99.99% likely to stay at Real Madrid – That’s now the two main suitors for Otamendi out of the picture.
Another interesting factor to consider is our new assistant head coach Ian Cathro, who was assistant manager at Valencia for a season, where he coached Otamendi and was thought of very highly amongst the players. Although only a small factor, could this potentially play a part in what would be undoubtedly the signing of the summer?
If the club can get past Valencia’s asking price, we couldn’t really pull this off, could we?
Be sure to check me out on Twitter @SportingMinute
-Liam
The Spectator's View 
nope!
No you are correct
erm…. no.
hahahahahaha i would happily bet my children against this happening
Not a chance
wtf
What a load of bollocks!
…a pint of what Liam’s had please.
“we couldn’t really pull this off could we”…..eh no
We nearly went down and needed two strikers one midfielder two centre half’s and a left back and right back cover, plus squad players depending on who left, so far good signings in but still miles behind who we need, raylor,gutti , amiobi out, where’s the squad players to replace them? Still no real money spent yet when you look at the money in from sakes account over the last two years,font let chimney and Ashley fool you!
Will it happen? I don’t think so. But this is like the Xherdan Shaqiri rumour to Stoke. I want that move (and for that matter this move too) to materialize, but what are the odds?
It must be difficult for you writers when things slow down a bit and there is not a lot going on, but seriously I wasted about three minutes of my life reading that utter drivel. Make something up which is believable, not that sort of clap-trap please! ! !
no way
Where did you get this information from 😂😂 a dream?