Bruce blasts Almiron's 'amateur' agent after Newcastle exit talk

Newcastle United manager Steve Bruce has hit out at Miguel Almiron's agent after the intermediary was quoted as saying the playmaker wants to leave St James' Park.

Almiron's representative, Daniel Campos, apparently told a Paraguayan radio station over the international break that his client would've joined Inter Milan or Atletico Madrid last summer were it not for the coronavirus pandemic. Campos added that Almiron could move in June to a team with a more possession-based style of play, Mark Douglas of Newcastle's Evening Chronicle reported earlier this week.

"The quotes were so outrageous, it was bordering on the ridiculous," Bruce said, according to The Guardian's Louise Taylor. "The agent proves to me he is an amateur looking to make a fast buck, which is pretty ridiculous. An agent who, two years (into Almiron's Newcastle spell), is probably trying to profit again and take him somewhere else is just hugely disrespectful to all of us, and to this club, which has served Miguel so well, in particular."

The Magpies have the fewest number of shots per 90 minutes (eight) and the fourth-lowest average possession (43%) in the Premier League this season. Almiron has appeared in seven of Newcastle's eight matches, three of which were off the bench, and has provided one assist.

By comparison, Atlanta United fired the fourth-most shots (511) and had the fourth-highest average possession (53.1%) in the 2018 MLS regular season. The club then went on to win the MLS Cup prior to Almiron's move to Tyneside. Almiron started 37 regular-season and playoff matches in 2018, scoring 13 goals and logging 11 primary assists.

"Miguel is an unbelievable pro who has a great attitude to everything and is always smiling," Bruce said after revealing he had set up a meeting with the player on Friday.

"If it was Miguel, who I've had the pleasure to work with for the last 15 months, knocking on my door and having a problem, I'd listen. But it's a two-bob agent who has been hugely disrespectful to his client."

Newcastle face Chelsea in Saturday's early kickoff.