Sky Sports Germany explain why Newcastle United's £69m bid for Hugo Ekitke was rejected
Newcastle United had an official bid for Hugo Ekitike rejected by Eintracht Frankfurt on Tuesday, and Sky Sports in Germany has explained the reasons why.
It's very rare that a first bid for a player is accepted, so we shouldn't be too shocked that Newcastle's first bid for Eintracht Frankfurt striker Hugo Ekitike has failed.
However, when you read the post on X by Sky Sports Germany's Florian Pletteberg in which he sets out why the bid was rejected, Newcastle fans will have every right to wonder just what is going on.
Initially, Plettenberg says that the bid failed due 'mainly due to the payment terms', which is fine. Newcastle are clearly trying to get a deal done with a structure that works for them, but it doesn't work for Frankfurt.
Newcastle United's bid was lower than other clubs, which had already tried to sign Hugo Ekitike
However, it's the second part of Plettenberg's post that is the head-scratcher.
"🚨⚫️⚪️ EXCL | Eintracht Frankfurt are understood to have rejected a written offer from Newcastle this morning worth €80 million, mainly due to the payment terms. #NUFC
"… and Markus Krösche wants more. There are clubs who have already signalled they would be willing to pay more. #SGE"
Why are Newcastle United like this?
Why are we bidding lower than other clubs who have already bid, especially when Newcastle will have been made fully aware of those bids during discussions last week?
It's highly unlikely that Frankfurt are going to accept a lower bid just because they like us, so why waste everybody's time? And now with Liverpool entering the race, we really can't afford to be so stubborn.
The deal is still there to be done if Newcastle just get their fingers out and stop messing about with silly bids. It's hard to imagine that Newcastle don't know exactly what Frankfurt want after a week of talks.
