Journalist Fabrizio Romano has revealed that Newcastle United decided against trying to sign midfielder Marcel Sabitzer on transfer deadline day.

What's the word?

It certainly seems as though the Magpies were in the market to add some depth to their options in the middle of the park this winter but they failed to do so in the end.

Indeed, earlier on in January, The Telegraph reported that Chelsea men Conor Gallagher and Ruben Loftus-Cheek were of interest to Eddie Howe but no deals were completed.

However, it now turns out that there was a possible chance that Sabitzer could end up at the Magpies on loan from Bayern Munich but he was so keen on Manchester United that the club abandoned those ideas.

Speaking on his YouTube channel, Romano explained (3:44): “We also have some rumours on Newcastle because they were looking for that kind of player and they considered that kind of opportunity.

"But they decided also not to proceed because Sabitzer said was super keen on joining Manchester United, in love with Erik ten Hag's ideas of football. And so this is why for Sabitzer the hijack was refused."

Waste of time

In the end, Sabitzer, who has previously admitted he is a "very bad loser", got his move as the Red Devils completed a loan signing for the Austrian midfielder from Bayern Munich until the end of the season as a way of replacing the injured Christian Eriksen.

The Magpies also failed with their attempts to bring in James Maddison from Leicester City but they did at least add Anthony Gordon to their ranks and so have added some depth even if he's not a central midfielder.

To make things worse, key man Bruno Guimaraes managed to get a red card in the Carabao Cup semi-final win that took place on deadline day and so he missed this weekend's Premier League draw against West Ham and will be absent for two more outings.

Perhaps Howe and co will come to regret not signing a new midfielder this winter but it certainly looks as though Sabitzer had his heart set on United so they would have only been wasting their time chasing that deal.