Watford’s 20-year-old Brazilian starlet João Pedro looks set to ply his trade in the Championship until at least the January window during the 2022-23 league campaign after Newcastle United have ended their pursuit of the Hornets’ center-forward.
Reports from the Telegraph’s Luke Edwards detail that the Magpies have closed the book on a move for Pedro in the wake of the PIF-owned Premier League outfit nearing a completed deal for Swedish star Alexander Isak.
#nufc interest in Joao Pedro is over for this transfer window. As reported earlier this week, Magpies had not agreed a fee or deal with Watford. Talks stalled on Monday. Have since signed Isak which is likely to mean lit is only loans being looked at until deadline day.
— Luke Edwards (@LukeEdwardsTele) August 25, 2022
Negotiations for Pedro in what was thought to be a deal that would have set the club back roughly £25m are no longer a priority for the St.James’ Park outfit, with Edwards stating that the club had never settled on a fee for the Brazilian, with talks stalling out as early as Monday this week.
The speed with which news broke surrounding Newcastle coming to terms with Real Sociedad for Isak highlights the notion that the Magpies were likely already hard at work on bringing the 22-year-old Solna native to Tyneside, with the center-forward pictured in Newcastle earlier today to complete his medical and any final loose ends ahead of a club-record £58m move out of Basque Country.
Watford fans will likely let out a sigh of relief after the Vicarage Road faithful already saw Nigerian international Emmanuel Dennis walk out the door and head for big-spending Nottingham Forest, leaving Hornets boss Rob Edwards with just Pedro as the only center-forward and forcing the club to bring in three players in the number 9 role this summer in the vein of Vakoun Issouf Bayo, Keinan Davis (loan), and Rey Manaj.
With neither Bayo nor Manaj capable of cracking a stubborn MK Dons defense which culminated in Watford bowing out of the second round of the EFL Cup in a 2-0 loss at home.
