Journalist Dean Jones has warned that Newcastle will ‘undoubtedly face competition’ in their attempts to land Moussa Diaby but did stress that the club feel they could have the edge on other suitors.
The Magpies were consistently linked with the Bayer Leverkusen winger throughout the summer.
However, the Bundesliga club’s £55m valuation seemingly deterred PIF from acting on their interest with Diaby himself then removing all doubt surrounding his future stating that he would be staying at 04 for the current campaign which does include playing in the Champions League.
Arsenal were also credited with an interest in the former PSG starlet but stumbled at the same hurdle as the Toon.
Newcastle were ultimately left without a new recruit in wide areas and while Jones is aware that the club will have to fend off approaches from elsewhere in order to sign the 23-year-old, he did point out that the foundations laid down this off-season may stand them in good stead.
He told GIVEMESPORT: “There will undoubtedly be competition for Diaby, he is brilliant.
“Newcastle have put in the hard yards already though so they will hope that if they want to pick up again on that transfer, they would be ahead of anyone else.”
Considering Newcastle did finish the summer window by splashing out £63m on club-record signing Alexander Isak, it should point to excitement in future windows for fans of the Tyneside outfit.
Diaby would certainly be a worthwhile investment too, having enjoyed a steady rise since leaving PSG for the Bundesliga.
He was hailed as “unstoppable” after scoring one goal and setting up another against Borussia Monchengladbach at the start of last season.
The Frenchman went on to reach double figures in a league campaign for goals for the first time in his career last season, as he netted 13 times and provided a further 12 assists in 32 appearances.
This term, he is already off the mark in the Champions League and his goalscoring prowess from out wide could take Newcastle to the next level, with Allan Saint-Maximin, Jacob Murphy, Miguel Almiron and Ryan Fraser posting just nine league goals between them in the 2021/22 campaign.
