Newcastle United owners determined to land £52m Premier League man after he rejected move to Tyneside last year

Last summer there were a few players whose names were never to far away from that of Newcastle United's when it came to player transfers.

Probably the most prominent was a player who ultimately chose a different club despite intense interest from Newcastle.

Bayer Leverkusen's Moussa Diaby was chased by Newcastle for much of the summer before the French winger opted to sign for Aston Villa in a £52million move.

Newcastle eventually signed Harvey Barnes who was arguably Eddie Howe's first choice anyway.

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PIF-owned Al-Ittihad now want Moussa Diaby

Despite a decent start to life at Aston Villa, Diaby soon dropped off and despite making 54 appearances for the club in all competitions, the 25-year-old only managed 10 goals and nine assists.

It appears that he didn't live up to Unai Emery's expectations and the club are willing to listen to offers for Diaby this summer.

One club that seems to be keen on a bid are PIF-owned Saudi Pro-League club Al-Ittihad according to The Shields Gazette.

Missing out on Diaby turned out to be a blessing in disguise

How the mighty have fallen. after hitting 31 goal contributions in 42 games for Leverkusen which had originally brought Diaby to Newcastle's attention.

Diaby is definitely one of those cases where missing out on a player we were so desperate to see at the club turned out to be a blessing.

How many of those are we going to have this summer after we seem to be missing out on everyone?