REPORT: Newcastle Miss Out on Signing Young American Full-back

According to The Daily Mail, Newcastle have missed out on the signing of American full-back Antonee Robinson from Wigan Atheltic.

Newcastle were one of a few teams interested in bringing in the 23 year old after a relegation clause in his contract was activated that would make the left-back available for less than £2m.

The left back has reportedly decided to sign with Sheffield with Newcastle and West Brom being among the other clubs interested. It is not surprising the player has chosen Sheffield, a stable club that was quite good last season over the uncertainty that comes with playing for Newcastle United right now.

Robinson was one of Wigan’s best players in their Championship campaign last season. He had 38 appearances for the club, and started almost 85% of all his matches he played last season. He was a part of a back line that was top 10 in goals allowed per match, and 3rd in the league in clean sheets.

Robinson is a pacey player, who is quite good going forward. One of his biggest strengths is ability to find space when the attack is building up, and like Jetro Willems or Matt Ritchie, is always looking to make overlapping runs down the wings. Robinson is also a good dribbler for a fullback, with a dribble success rate of 60%, which is on par with the majority of the attacking players on his team.

As a defender Robinson is solid at using his speed to cut off passing angles, and forcing wingers certain directions. If he’s beat, he usually can recover quite quickly. He’s a good enough defender for the Championship, and it will be interesting to see if he continues to develop after making the jump to the Premier League.

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Unfortunately going into administration, and the unfortunate penalties that come with that, led to Wigan being relegated from The Championship despite being a solid team. For Wigan this meant some of their hottest assets were going to be available for cheap. Such is the case for Robinson, who was on his way to AC Milan in January for £10m before a failed medical due to a heart condition led to the collapse of the deal.

Now Robinson is set to join one of the up and coming clubs in the Premier League for way below his value.