For a while it did look as though Newcastle United were the frontrunners to sign Uzbek defender Abdukodir Khusanov from RC Lens before Manchester City came in and barged them out of the way.
The media reports around Khusanov all seemed to suggest that Newcastle were about to pull the trigger in January rather than wait until the summer, especially with other clubs circling, but ultimately is was Pep Guardiola's Manchester City who stumped up the cash and brought the promising youngster to the Premier League.
Khusanov cost City around £33.5 million which may have been more than Newcastle were willing to pay this month given their focus on making money rather than spending.
However, the player's agent has now spoken about how close Newcastle came to landing the 20-year-old and what went wrong.
Speaking to Russian outlet Championat, Gairat Khasbiullin spoke about how Newcastle were one of the favourites to land Khusanov.
“Newcastle were very close to a deal. They were even one of the favourites, and then they were the last to leave the race with City. As far as I understand, financial fair play also played a role. And they didn’t have enough time. Perhaps, if they had made an offer earlier, they would have managed to reach an agreement.
“Then City put so much pressure on Lens that it was difficult to make a comparable offer. The fact that the French needed this saving money also played a role.”
The big thing to take away from this, is that it seems that Newcastle United are prepared to spend money this month if they believe that the deal is right, as they clearly did with Khusanov.
We will say that we don't expect the club to actively be looking to spend money in this window, but should a player come along who would improve the team and the deal must be done this month to avoid missing out, they will act.
They just need to act quicker than they did in this case.
PL | GD | PTS | ||
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1 |
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23 | 35 | 56 |
2 |
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24 | 27 | 50 |
3 |
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24 | 13 | 47 |
4 |
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24 | 16 | 43 |
5 |
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24 | 13 | 41 |
6 |
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24 | 13 | 41 |
7 |
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24 | 13 | 40 |
8 |
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24 | -3 | 37 |
9 |
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24 | 4 | 36 |
10 |
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24 | -3 | 34 |
11 |
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24 | 0 | 31 |
12 |
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24 | -2 | 30 |
13 |
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24 | -6 | 29 |
14 |
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24 | 11 | 27 |
15 |
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24 | -17 | 27 |
16 |
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23 | -5 | 26 |
17 |
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24 | -18 | 19 |
18 |
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24 | -28 | 17 |
19 |
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24 | -27 | 16 |
20 |
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24 | -36 | 9 |