Despite persistent rumors of interest in Danish defender Joachim Andersen, Newcastle United was unable to sign a replacement center back during the summer transfer window.
Throughout the summer, Newcastle and Tottenham were keeping tabs on the Crystal Palace defender, but Joachim Andersen is still there.
One of the major roadblocks to the transfer was Crystal Palace’s valuation of the 27-year-old at £40 million, even though they only paid Lyon £15 million for him in 2021 after a productive loan at Fulham.
Andersen has acknowledged he’s open to leaving Palace.
Speaking to Ekstra Bladet in his home Denmark, Andersen revealed that he had attention from other teams this summer, but it was ‘nothing definite.’ Despite this, he hasn’t ruled out leaving Crystal Palace soon.
“There were a few things back and forth, but nothing concrete,” Andersen remarked. “I don’t always have control over it. I aspire to play for the largest and most prestigious teams in the world, but I am not always in control of when I switch.
I’m 27, therefore if I’m going to transfer, it should ideally happen in the near future. I’m not getting any younger, and if a club is going to pay for me, they also need to be able to understand the bigger picture, he continued.
In January, Newcastle might make another offer for Andersen.
Given that both Fabian Schar and Sven Botman have already sustained injuries as a result of Newcastle’s failure to buy a centre-back, there may be room for the team to enter the transfer window once more in January to address the issue.
Although it is improbable that they would be so desperate as to pay £40 million for Andersen, we have seen how aggressively Newcastle’s board can bargain in order to make a deal.
The only problem I have is that Andersen is 27 and I’d rather we go for someone younger, perhaps around Botman’s age, so we can have a long-term defensive tandem. Even so, Andersen should still have a long life ahead of him.
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