Newcastle United manager Steve Bruce offered a jovial response to a question on reports from L’Equipe (via Get French Football News) that the Magpies had made contact with Paris Saint-Germain over a loan move for Idrissa Gueye.
The report suggested that the Magpies made contact with the French champions over a potential move for the former Everton midfielder and PSG were willing to sanction a deal. However, despite the player being open to a return to the Premier League, he was apparently unconvinced by the prospect of a move to St James’ Park.
Gueye seems a very ambitious transfer target from PSG, but the midfielder has been in and out of the starting line-up this season and is therefore being allowed to leave the club on loan.
Bruce was asked about the potential contact between the Magpies and PSG in his press conference and he humorously suggested that it was Neymar who they were seeking instead. As shared by Keith Downie on Twitter, the Newcastle manager jokingly quipped: “Neymar was actually the one we were looking at there (PSG) but it didn’t quite happen.”
Steve Bruce on weekend links to Idrissa Gueye:
(Jokes) “Neymar was actually the one we were looking at there (PSG) but it didn’t quite happen.” #NUFC ✍🏼— Keith Downie (@SkySports_Keith) February 1, 2021
Read Newcastle verdict
This response from Bruce suggests that there was nothing much in all the speculation surrounding Gueye’s potential move to the Magpies. It was always an ambitious transfer to pull off, with cash-strapped Newcastle unlikely to be able to match the sort of wages being paid out to players by the French heavyweights.
It would have been a sensational transfer were it to have happened, but Bruce will be aware that he needs to get in a midfielder who the club can actually afford before the transfer window closes. That is probably why he was swift to deflect away the speculation with a quick joke here.
