Earlier this week Newcastle confirmed the signing of Vakhtang Salia. The hot prospect Georgian will join the club next summer after seeing out the remainder of the season at Dinamo Tbilisi. Sources at the club are said to be delighted that the move is now confirmed as there had been concerns that the move was under threat.
Salia’s precocious ability has seen him become a first team regular at just 17-years-old and in scouting/data circles he is seen as a top talent with a very high ceiling.
Additional context on the move has come via Mark Douglas of the I Paper, he reports that scouts of Bayern Munich, Juventus and many a Premier League side were tracking the youngster, and United have beaten off strong competition to sign the lad.
The report says that Salia is the first signing Newcastle have made with their ‘biggest budget yet’ to sign similar young gems with the clubs ‘emerging talent scouts told to make this strategy of the upmost importance’ and they are keenly scouting League 2 in France ‘as a pool of untapped potential.’
Mitchell is well known in those sorts of scouting circles on the continent, and he will surely have a wealth of contacts he can take advantage of so it will be pleasing to see something positive come out of the Mitchell move, as it’s fair to say he has been a little shaky on the dismount.
Whilst this sort of news is encouraging and will be hugely beneficial in a PSR world United’s Sporting Director would do well to remember that we still need to make signings for the here and now too. Hopefully this is something he can start to deliver on in January.
