Georginio Wijnaldum has been warned against joining Newcastle United by a fellow Dutchman at Southampton - with Erwin Koeman claiming such a move would be bad for the midfielder because the Magpies are "structurally wrong" at the moment. The brother of Saints boss Ronald Koeman, Dutchman Erwin is assistant coach at the Premier League club and he has advised Wijnaldum against opting for a move to Tyneside this summer. Koeman managed Wijnaldum at Feyenoord when he was first coming through the youth ranks there and breaking into the first team, and he does not believe the 24-year-old Dutch international should leave PSV Eindhoven this summer. Newcastle are reportedly close to agreeing a fee in the region of between £11 million and £14 million for Wijnaldum, although nothing has yet been finalised. Strangely, Koeman (pictured below, right, next to brother Ronald) first praises Newcastle by calling it a "big club", but then he takes a dig at Mike Ashley's management of the club over the last few seasons. Speaking to NIS, Erwin Koeman said:
"I doubt because Newcastle is a big club, weekly sit 55,000 people in the stands. But, as far as I can judge from the outside, it comes as structurally wrong lately. "They have good players - just often problems with coaches being fired. "(Wijnaldum is) a player with an added value. He should just keep in mind that the game is much faster and is a lot more physical (in England)."
NUFC editor for WhatCulture.com/NUFC. History graduate (University of Edinburgh) and NCTJ-trained journalist. I love sports, hopelessly following Newcastle United and Newcastle Falcons. My pastimes include watching and attending sports matches religiously, reading spy books and sampling ales.
