Newcastle made to pay for January transfer blunder as Rayan stars in Bournemouth win
Newcastle United were expected to make a move for Rayan in the January transfer window before the player ultimately signed for Bournemouth.
The Cherries signed the 19-year-old for a reported £24.7million from Vasco da Gama, and that fee is already looking to have been a bargain.
Rayan got the assist for Marcus Tavernier’s opener on Saturday as Bournemouth beat Newcastle 2-1 at St James’ Park, and was a constant threat.
The Magpies have been on a barren run, losing four consecutive games and throwing away any chance of European football.
Newcastle transfer chiefs may regret not having challenged the Cherries for Rayan, with it becoming increasingly clear that he is a mega talent.
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VISIT THE NEWCASTLE TRANSFER HUBRayan torments Newcastle
Reports emerged in January that Newcastle were readying a bid for Rayan, with transfer chiefs set to challenge Bournemouth.
The winger was not an unknown quantity, having scored 20 goals across all competitions last season in Brazil, and there were several clubs tracking him.
| Anthony Elanga | Newcastle United vs Bournemouth | Rayan |
| 62 | Minutes played | 78 |
| 14/21 | Accurate passes | 20/30 |
| 0 | Assists | 1 |
| 0 | Shots | 1 |
| 1 | Recoveries | 5 |
| 3/8 | Duels won | 6/11 |
Bournemouth were the side to back their talk up with a bid, and Newcastle ultimately failed to come up with an offer of their own.
After just a few games, it became clear that the Magpies had made a mistake. After just three games, Rayan had assisted and scored twice, outweighing £55m summer signing Anthony Elanga’s total from 29 Premier League appearances this season.
On Saturday, the gulf in quality was clear again, with the Bournemouth forward assisting Tavernier across the face of the goal while Elanga struggled to make an impact.
The 19-year-old also made five recoveries and won the majority of his duels, proving a constant pain for the Newcastle back-line.
Transfer mistakes coming back to bite Newcastle
What may hurt even more than Rayan’s immediate success is his future value, which could well see Bournemouth triple or even quadruple their money.
The 19-year-old was always going to be a player with high potential, and while Newcastle may not have foreseen him being such a hit, he was surely worth the gamble for the money involved.
Instead, the Magpies have been forced to come to terms with yet another blunder in the transfer market.
Around £250m was spent at St James’ Park on new players last summer, and it is becoming increasingly clear that mistakes were made.
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