Newcastle no longer favourites to sign 'special' 26-year-old as PL rivals swoop in - Fabrizio Romano

Newcastle United now look set to miss out on a transfer that was said to have been a 'done deal' last week according to transfer insider Fabrizio Romano.

For the past couple of weeks it has looked like Newcastle had tied up deals for two free agents with Lloyd Kelly coming from Bournemouth and Tosin Adarabioyo heading northbound from Fulham.

Reports started coming out of late interest from Chelsea for the latter, but most journalists were still confident that the 26-year-old was set on the move to Newcastle.

Until today, when Fabrizio Romano took to X to suggest that Tosin would now head to Chelsea rather than Newcastle.

Adarabioyo has a choice of money or football

It had been reported that Chelsea had offered more money to the player deemed 'special' by Marco Silva, but Newcastle had offered guaranteed playing time, but it seems that, once again, money has won the day as Romano said:

EXCLUSIVE: Chelsea are closing in on deal to sign Tosin Adarabioyo, negotiations at final stages.

Newcastle have been working on Tosin deal for weeks but #CFC now clear favorites, cautious until it’s sealed.

Tosin to be first signing for Enzo Maresca, if all goes to plans.

It's not over yet

It is worth noting the part that says "cautious until it's sealed" which suggests that Romano isn't 100% convinced yet, but higher wages and not having to move out of West London does suggest he's likely to choose the Blues regardless of how much of a dumpster fire that club is.

Once again it looks like the Stamford Bridge side are going to beat us to a transfer target and then likely ruin their career. How many players do they need, though? Seriously.

We're not giving up on Tosin yet, but expect extreme bitterness from us and indeed a large section of the fanbase should he opt for the money rather than the football.