Newcastle pull plug on £6million signing
Published 21:30 16/12/11 By Simon Bird
Newcastle have dramatically scrapped a £6million deal to buy striker Modibo Maiga.
The Sochaux star flew to London this week to complete a deal to leave the French side and become the Geordies' new No9, with a five-and-a-half year contract agreed.
But he has failed his medical - amid a bitter row over his fitness between Newcastle's medical experts and the player's representatives.
The Geordies have chased Maiga since last summer and resurrected a deal in recent weeks, and he was due to become Pardew's biggest buy so far.
Maiga produced medical evidence of his own, from a professor, to state that the unspecified injury was not a problem, but Newcastle stuck by the verdict of their own docs.
His agent Karim Aklil said: "I am disappointed at this turn of events. Modibo is in perfect physical condition, which was confirmed by one of the leading experts in the field. I am quite surprised.
"I am convinced that the future will prove us right. Modibo remains one of the best strikers in the Championship of France."
Pardew has been promised Maiga and a defender as his new faces for January, but will now have to look elsewhere.
