Members of the Peruvian media were told that Rodrigo Vilca will leave Newcastle United on loan this season, according to Chronicle Live journalist Lee Ryder.
The lowdown
Newcastle paid £225,000 to sign Vilca from native outfit Deportivo Municipal last October.
He had played 29 senior games for the club, scoring four goals and providing three assists.
But Vilca, who can play as an attacking midfielder and operate on both wings, spent his first season with the Under-23s and is yet to make a full debut (via Transfermarkt).
He’s been described as an ‘ingenious’ player with ‘great vision’ (via Chronicle).
The latest
Journalists in South America were apparently briefed that Vilca would temporarily leave St James’ Park for valuable minutes, but any such move has ‘yet to unfold’.
Ryder reports that the player is ‘still some distance from where Newcastle want to be’, and for now they appear to be limiting expectations.
Nonetheless, they are confident he will make progress in the remaining years of his deal.
The verdict
It doesn’t look great for Vilca at this moment in time. He’s 22 years old, and at that point you’d have expected him to kick-on and at least challenge for some minutes off the bench for the first-team.
An initial season in the Under-23s may well have been the plan, but the fact that he couldn’t even make the matchday squad for cup competitions is a little concerning.
If he does wind up staying – a loan to the second or third tier might be the better option – then he’ll simply have to make more of an impression than at youth level. If he finds himself in the same spot next summer, this £225,000 experiment may be headed for failure.
In other news, Newcastle turned down the chance to sign a player who was bound for greatness.
