Newcastle United not working to sign Barcelona attacker – Romano

Of late, there have been a lot of speculations surrounding the future of Barcelona forward Memphis Depay. The 28-year-old is entering the final six months of his contract at Spotify Camp Nou and has not been a major part of Xavi’s plans this season.

That, coupled with Barça’s need to generate revenue to boost their Financial Fair Play situation, has opened up the possibility that the club could look to offload Depay should any offers come along for the Dutchman.

And reports earlier this week suggested that Newcastle United were one of the clubs interested in signing him from Barcelona and were even willing to shell out a transfer fee of €20 million to secure his services.

But, now, Fabrizio Romano has denied those claims, stating that the Premier League outfit are not working to sign Depay in the upcoming January transfer window.

The Italian transfer expert has also specified that there have been no talks between Barcelona and Newcastle about a move and neither have the Magpies spoken with the player directly over the possibility of signing him up in the winter.

Depay, for his part, is currently said to be fully focused on Barcelona. The Netherlands international is coming on the back of an impressive World Cup campaign with his national team and could get a run in Xavi’s side due to Robert Lewandowski’s three-match ban.

As for his future, a decision could be made next month over whether the Catalan giants retain his services until the end of the season or part ways with him in January.

Reports suggested that Depay might look to see out the remainder of his contract with Barcelona and move as a free agent in the summer as it would allow him to get a more lucrative contract and a signing-on bonus.

What seems to be clear at this point is that Newcastle United are not an option for Memphis heading into the winter transfer window.