Newcastle United made grand attempts to sign once-promising centre-back Ruben Semedo back in 2017 but the British weather scuppered any chance of a deal.
The Magpies were keen to sign the Portuguese talent from Sporting when Rafa Benitez was at the helm. When Newcastle’s interest became apparent, Semedo had a quick Google search, saw the amount of rain in the UK and instead opted to move to La Liga side Villarreal instead.
“It was when I was leaving for the U21 European championship, which we lost to Spain,” Semedo told Marca this week.
“My agent told me that there was a proposal from Villarreal and Newcastle, but I saw on the internet that it was raining a lot there and I said no. I had the idea of Villarreal, who like to play football. I had the idea of Villarreal, who like to play football. Riquelme, Forlán and I said ‘no, I’m going there’. I didn’t think twice.”
Semedo played just four times for Villarreal and was sent out on loan to Rio Ave and Huesca during his time at the ‘Yellow Submarine’. Olympiacos took a punt on the defender in 2019 but soon after Porto were taking him off their hands in a loan deal.
Off the field issues for Semedo added to his woes and his last three sides have all played in Qatar’s top division. The 30-year-old is now at Al-Khor, who sit rock bottom of the Qatari Stars League.
How different things could have been in Newcastle had landed their desired transfer target eight years ago.
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