Newcastle Transfer News: Barcelona Balk On Magpies Striker Loan

Newcastle United's proposed loan move for Barcelona highly-rated young forward Sandro Ramirez may be blocked by the Catalan giants. On Thursday, Spanish paper Marca claimed that the 19-year-old was due to spend next season on loan in the North East in a bid to continue his development - if the Magpies retain their Premier League status. However, Friday saw another Spanish paper, Mundo Deportivo, dispute this report and instead claim that Barcelona have told Ramierez - as well as forward Munir El Haddadi and midfielder Sergi Samper - that they will not be allowed to leave on loan next season.

The report claims that, despite Ramirez's agent Gines Carvajal having held talks with Newcastle, the three youngsters have now been told they must remain in Catalonia to help the Barcelona B team progress upwards from the third tier of Spanish football. Sandro would undoubtedly be a major coup for Newcastle, with the versatile forward having netted four times in just 12 appearances - the majority of which were off the bench - including in the Champions League against Ajax. However, competition for forward positions at the Nou Camp is intense to say the least - and Sandro finds himself down the pecking order behind the likes of Lionel Messi, Neymar, Luis Suarez and Pedro.

Despite this, Sandro has enjoyed plenty of gametime for Barcelona B in the last two seasons and has netted 13 times in 50 appearances. He was due to go out on loan to Sevilla in January too, but that deal was scuppered due to Barca suffering a mini injury crisis at the time, and so the three-cap Spain Under-21 international instead remained in Catalonia. It now appears as if Newcastle may now become the second team within six months to miss out on signing the exciting young striker. For all the latest NUFC News, Views and Transfers make sure to follow WhatCultureNUFC on Twitter and Facebook.