ALAN PARDEW has revealed details of a bad call in the transfer market that has cost frustrated football club owner Mike Ashley over £50million.
The former St James’s Park boss has admitted Newcastle missed out on signing Celtic defender Virgil van Dijk.
Pardew was interested in the Dutch international defender over three years ago and was poised to make his move.
However, tensions between Pardew and the club’s chief scout Graham Carr scuppered the proposed transfer.
Instead, the classy central defender eventually made the £13million switch to Southampton – and is now being touted as a £70million target for Liverpool in the January transfer window. Manchester City and Chelsea are also interested in the former Celt.
The Hoops are due to receive something in the region of £7.5million as part of the sell-on clause in the 26-year-old’s contract.
Pardew said: “We looked at him when I was at Newcastle and we felt he would take us forward, even then.
“He has controlled Southampton’s back four – he’s just got that kind of presence.
“As a manager, you look at some players and you feel confident in his character that he will deliver.”
Following the disagreement with Carr, the Tyneside outfit eventually signed Jamaal Lascelles and Karl Darlow in a joint £6million deal from Nottingham Forest..
Pardew left Newcastle on December 30, 2014 to take over from Neil Warnock at Crystal Palace.
Van Dijk agreed his move to the south coast club in September the following year.
Ashley has had a troubled time in football ownership. He has never been fully accepted by the Newcastle United supporters and this week announced that he has put the club up for sale.
“Our intentions are to see if the club can be bought by new ownership, potentially by Christmas,” Ashley’s lawyer said in a statement released this week.
“This would allow seriously interested parties to put themselves forward. It would allow a diligence period to carry on, then hopefully by Christmas a sale could be concluded,” he continued.
Ashley also took shares in the new start up venture at Ibrox after Charles Green brought him on board as a shareholder and to handle the merchandise side of the new club.
That led to tensions with subsequent Ibrox boards and Dave King led a boycott of Ashley’s products, eventually forcing him to sell up and end his interest in Sevco Rangers.
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OUR SECOND CQN PODCAST this week, featuring interviews with ex-Celts Alan Stubbs and Chris Sutton, previewing the big games this week against Bayern Munich and Hibs at Hampden on Saturday.
Stubbs gives an insight into Liam Henderson as a player and talks about where his career should go from here.
BT Sport pundit Chris Sutton, who was speaking at the SPFL Betfred League Cup media day, spoke about Celtic’s European challenge in Munich and his former gaffer Gordon Strachan’s departure from Hampden Park.
Speaking on behalf of BT Sport, Alan Stubbs also spoke about his regret at leaving Hibs, and looks ahead to the League Cup semi-final between two of his former clubs.
BT Sport is where the best go head to head. Watch Bayern Munich v Celtic exclusively live in the UEFA Champions League on BT Sport ESPN from 7pm tonight & Hibs v Celtic exclusively live in the SPFL Betfred League Cup on BT Sport 1 from 11:15am on Saturday 21st October.
