Erik Pieters 'Likely' To Join Newcastle United in the Summer
The 23-year old PSV Eindhoven defender caught the eye of The Magpies last summer when Alan Pardew was on the hunt for a new left-back to replace the departing Jose Enrique.
Dutch international full-back Erik Pieters is 'likely' to join Newcastle United in the summer, according to the Editor of Dutch football magazine Elf Voetbal. The 23-year old PSV Eindhoven defender caught the eye of The Magpies last summer when Alan Pardew was on the hunt for a new left-back to replace the departing Jose Enrique. It was believed a deal around the similar price range they sold Enrique (around £5 million) to Liverpool was close to being agreed with the club but then Pieters suffered a bereavement in the family and he opted to stay in his homeland before talks could progress further. Newcastle were then quick to sign Inter Milan and Italian Under-21 defender Davide Santon but playing him at left-back this season looked to be a temporary measure as his future seems to be at right-back with the Toon looking for a left sided defender right now. They recently revived interest in Toulouse & Senegalese 22 year-old Cheikh MBengue. The Dutch media believe Pieters, who suffered a bad injury last year and hasn't played much for his club (though he did play for Holland in the recent international friendly), is definitely on his way out of Eindhoven this season and Newcastle are preparing a bid. Speaking to a NUFC fan site, Voetbal said; The chance of the Erik Pieters move to Newcastle going though looks very likely. He wont stay with PSV at the end of the season. He will leave go to a bigger league. Newcastle has been mentioned several times and he has had contact over there. The chance of him going to England and then Newcastle is very very real. Newcastle United looks like a very good club for Pieters. Its a move that would suit him, PSV Eindhoven and Newcastle United. 6"1 Pieters, who could also do a job in central defence for Newcastle, has played over 100 times for PSV since he joined from Utrecht in the summer of 2008 for £2 million. His value will be around three times that now. Pieters has also played 14 times for PSV and revealed last year that he is very close to goalkeeper Tim Krul.