Last summer was a turbulent one for Newcastle, particularly without an executive structure in place. It was clear the forward was the likeliest of Newcastle's key players to depart after he was left on the bench for each of the final four games of the season. Barcelona had a prior interest, but the club's formal talks with Newcastle only emerged publicly on Wednesday morning.
Original Source:
https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/swift-resolution-newcastle-begin-rebuild-133636165.html
