Newcastle believed they had done enough to land Victor Munoz before a late twist in proceedings resulted in a change of heart for the left winger
Spanish forward Victor Munoz
Newcastle United thought that they had a deal tied up for Victor Munoz last Sunday – only for Liverpool to show their hand in a game of transfer poker.
The Magpies even had plans in place to conduct a medical in the United States as they aimed to get the transfer completed before Munoz returned home after the World Cup.
It is believed that United chiefs were told that their offer HAD been agreed between Osasuna and Munoz’s agent before a late twist in proceedings, resulting in Liverpool muscling in.
Munoz was open to the idea of becoming a Newcastle player and made that clear to those around the table, but the lure of Liverpool, the Champions League and, significantly, Andoni Iraola’s declaration to agents he was keen on the Spain youngster ultimately swayed the deal.
Iraola – in his first power move as Liverpool boss – was the game-changer. He instructed his transfer team to go in hard for Munoz, with the 23-year-old making it clear he wanted to listen to what was on offer.
In the end, the speedy left winger chose to go to Liverpool despite initially accepting all of the personal terms on offer by Newcastle with Eddie Howe confident a deal would get done.
Newcastle are understood to have met all of Osasuna’s demands and hoped the deal would be pushed through after last weekend. Only then, sources indicated that Munoz had ‘other options’ with the Reds accelerating the pace of the deal, and in a rerun of last summer’s bid for James Trafford, it was only at the 11th hour that a bidding rival upped the stakes in terms of their powers of persuasion.
Newcastle are now assessing their options in the market, but won’t operate with any type of knee-jerk reaction and will stick with the plans of trying to bring in hungry players who want to make it big in the Premier League.
For head coach Eddie Howe, the clock is already ticking towards the first day of pre-season, with only goalkeeper Ewen Jaouen snapped up so far from Stade Reims.
Newcastle not only need a replacement for Anthony Gordon but are also looking at right-backs, midfielders and a right-sided forward. They must cut their cloth accordingly, however, as they try to stay within the tight framework of the SCR rulebook.
Get Chronicle Premium now for just £1 HERE – exclusive news and features, our NUFC and Academy notebooks, John Gibson’s columns plus an ad-lite experience
Here at ChronicleLive, we are dedicated to bringing you the best Newcastle United coverage and analysis.
Make sure you don’t miss out on the latest NUFC news by joining our free WhatsApp group. You can get all the breaking news and best analysis sent straight to your phone by clicking here to subscribe.
You can also subscribe to our free newsletter service. Click here to be sent all the day’s biggest stories.
And, finally, if you would rather listen to our expert analysis then make sure to check out our Everything is Black and White podcast. Our shows are available on all podcast platforms, including Spotify and Apple Podcasts, and you can also watch along on YouTube.