Considerable displeasure as player refuses to travel for Newcastle United

There is a sense of considerable displeasure growing at Marseille as Pierre Emile Hojbjerg has refused to travel to Newcastle United.

La Provence Arles report that the Danish midfielder refused to move to St James Park. That’s despite all the relevant parties appearing to have reached an agreement.

Newcastle turned down

The newspaper explains that Marseille, who find themselves in financial difficulties, were rubbing their hands at the prospect of selling Pierre Emile Hojbjerg to Newcastle.

The 31-year-old is a high earner at the French club, earning a massive salary, and the prospect of taking that off the books was ‘almost too good to be true’.

Then, at the last minute, the midfielder put a spanner in the works. Indeed, the whole deal fell through because of him. Just as Marseille and Newcastle’s leadership seemed to have found common ground on a €15m deal, the midfielder turned down the idea.

He has initially been excited by the move to Newcastle but then changed his mind. According to the newspaper, the Dane backtracked, turning down the contract that the Magpies had offered him.

Unforseen turnaround

The U-turn caught everyone off guard and was far from welcome news at Marseille. They had been banking on a departure for the player, as their financial situation remains critical.

They need significant cost-cutting to help balance the books, and removing Hojbjerg from the mix would have seemingly helped that considerably. Instead, he’s backtracked and decided to remain where he is for the time being.

That has ultimately caused considerable displeasure and frustration at Marseille, who were clearly celebrating their work to get the deal done behind the scenes. Indeed, the €15m would have seen them get their money back on the €13.5m they paid Tottenham two years ago.

Now, it seems, they will have to go back to the drawing board. Or, convince Hojbjerg to turn around once again and accept Newcastle’s offer after all.