CEO confirms Liverpool beat Newcastle to wonderkid transfer after 'attractive offer'

A CEO has confirmed that Liverpool beat Newcastle to another transfer.

All eyes were on Alexander Isak and his stand-off with the Magpies this summer. This ultimately got Liverpool wrapped up into a neverending saga which saw the Reds clash with Newcastle a couple of times.

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The first was when Liverpool approached to sign Isak. This prompted Newcastle to act by making a move for Hugo Ekitike, but this only forced Liverpool's hands.

They wanted to sign both Ekitike and Isak, which meant Richard Hughes quickly swooped in to complete a deal for the Frenchman.

While the wording around the time was that Newcastle wanted to play a 4-4-2 with Ekitike and Isak, they will have to settle for Nick Woltemade and Yoane Wissa.

Liverpool meanwhile got the deal over the line for Isak as well. He will now join an exciting new attack that has started brilliantly, with Ekitike having four goal contributions in his first four competitive games for the club.

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Ultimately, having lost their star player and number one target to replace him, Liverpool's activity in the market has been a bitter blow to Newcastle.

But it turns out Ekitike wasn't the only player whose signature the Reds won over Newcastle this summer.

It has been now confirmed by Parma's CEO that Eddie Howe's team also wanted to sign Giovanni Leoni.

Parma CEO, Federico Cherubini, told Gazzetta di Parma, via Parma Live, that Newcastle had made a better offer for the club but they turned that down.

“I’ve always said that the club, along with the owners, wanted to keep Giovanni, and he’s always said he’d be happy to stay,” Cherubini said.

“We even turned down an offer from Newcastle, which was more advantageous than the one Liverpool eventually made."

In the end, after Leoni communicated his desire to join Liverpool, Parma were forced into agreeing an 'attractive offer' from the Reds.

“When the Reds came forward, our plans changed: both because the offer was very attractive and because Giovanni made it clear he was very happy to take advantage of this opportunity," Cherubini continued.

“On the one hand, it’s obviously disappointing to have lost such a promising player, but on the other, there’s pride in a club like ours and recognition for those who believed in this boy in unsuspecting times, when he’d only played a few games in Serie B.”

So, Newcaslte had come in for Leoni and had failed to get him over the line, just for Liverpool to swoop in and bring him in.

Even though Richard Hughes and Michael Edwards were all mates at Portsmouth with Eddie Howe while working under Harry Redknap, they can't be popular figures with the Newcastle hierarchy at the moment.

It's just business at the end of the day and ultimately Hughes was only doing his job and working in the best interest of Liverpool. Leoni could become an integral part of the club's future, and he is a talent the Reds are very confident will go onto have a massive career at Anfield.

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