It has now been reported in Germany that Newcastle United tried to buy Gregor Kobel in the summer.

SportBild claiming that United attempted to sign the Borussia Dortmund goalkeeper before then eventually signing Lukas Hornicek as the new NUFC number one.

Whether Newcastle United really did try to buy Gregor Kobel is an unknown.

They report that it was Gregor Kobel himself who said no to Newcastle United. Which again, may or may not be true.

However, you definitely tend to be thinking this is yet another fantasy transfer story when you hear what else SportBild are claiming as part of this summer transfer that didn’t happen.

They claim that Newcastle United offered Gregor Kobel a huge pay rise to come to Tyneside.

SportBild stating that Newcastle United offered €13m (approx £11m) a year, which is around €250,000 (£210,000 a week).

That is simply ridiculous, for anybody to believe that.

As well as all the other financial restrictions that prevent Newcastle United offering the same wages (and transfer fees) as the ‘Premier League Big Six’ and certain other clubs overseas, United faced a summer that was seriously impacted by UEFA SCR impact.

This meant Newcastle United had to sell key players for large fees and get high wage earners off the books, in order to rebuild the squad by recruiting lower wage younger players from overseas.

Bruno Guimaraes was the highest earner at Newcastle United on around £8m per year (£160,000 a week).

The idea that NUFC were selling the likes of Bruno, Tonali and Gordon, only to then offer a new goalkeeper millions more than any of them were receiving in wages, is beyond laughable.