Bouaddi windfall quietly scuppers Newcastle's Fernandez-Pardo pursuit
Newcastle's hopes of landing Matias Fernandez-Pardo appear to have hit a wall — and the wall is made of Manchester City money.
The Magpies have spent the final days of the window sounding out the Lille playmaker, who has enjoyed a breakout 12 months for club and country. But with City having just paid £86million to prise Ayyoub Bouaddi away from the French club, Lille are under no financial pressure to entertain offers.
"It's a real difficult deal to do right now because Lille are quite flush with money from that big sale of Ayyoub Bouaddi to Manchester City for £86million," a source told Football Insider.
That sums it up neatly. Lille have already banked a hefty fee this summer — Bouaddi completed his move on Wednesday — and are under no obligation to sell another key asset on the cheap.
Newcastle, who want an attacking midfielder before Tuesday's deadline, have been left in an awkward spot. Fernandez-Pardo is under contract until 2029, and reports suggest Lille would want at least £60m to even entertain a departure.
The 21-year-old scored eight goals and added six assists in 41 appearances last season, and featured three times for Belgium at the World Cup. He is exactly the kind of signing Newcastle hoped to make. But the purse strings at the Stade Pierre-Mauroy are not being pulled tight by anyone right now.
Should Newcastle fail to land him, they are expected to let Joe Willock leave before the window shuts. Whether that happens remains to be seen, but the odds of Fernandez-Pardo wearing black and white this week have lengthened considerably.
City's business, it seems, has had a knock-on effect a hundred miles away.