Former Bayer Leverkusen striker regrets not joining Newcastle United after high bids from Mike Ashley

Newcastle United have been linked with many players in the January transfer window.

Paul Mitchell undoubtedly has his work cut out for him in the transfer market. Eddie Howe wants to bolster his attacking options and ensure he has a long-term goalkeeper with MartinD ubravka’s future still unknown.

Newcastle have already missed out on many players to other Premier League sides. Newcastle wanted Donyell Malen from Borussia Dortmund, but the forward has since signed for Aston Villa.

Elsewhere, Mitchell sent scouts to watch Millwall winger Romain Esse. He now looks set to join Crystal Palace.

The feeling around Tyneside is that Newcastle won’t buy anyone in January, and that stance hasn’t changed after Mitchell greenlighted Miguel Almiron’s sale to Atlanta United.

Newcastle’s stance means they could lose out on even more targets in January. A failure to invest means there’s a bigger chance Newcastle could fail to qualify for European football, it would have huge repercussions on retaining stars like Alexander Isak.

While there’s gloom over recent missed targets, a former footballer has opened up about a failed move to Tyneside back in 2018.

Nicolai Jørgensen nearly joined Newcastle in 2018

Nicolai Jørgensen had a successful career in Europe. He won nine trophies during spells in Denmark and Holland.

Jørgensen also spent time at Bundesliga side Bayer Leverkusen between 2010 and 2012 but failed to make an impact. He joined Copenhagen in 2012 where he spent four seasons, winning the Danish SuperLiga and Danish Cup twice.

A move to Feyenoord followed where he would score 43 goals in 99 league appearances. However, in 2018 he was offered the chance to move to Newcastle; who were owned by Mike Ashley at the time, but failed to make the move.

Recently, Jørgensen spoke to Tipsbladet where he opened up about the failed move.

“I had the opportunity to make a big change several times,” he said.