Newcastle United's Matt Targett left sweating on January move after Leeds United twist
Newcastle United left-back Matt Targett remains on Tyneside going into the final few days of the January window.
The former Southampton and Aston Villa man has been heavily linked with Leeds United in the past few days. But Chronicle Live has learned that suggestions he will make a permanent move to Elland Road are "complete fabrication".
Sources at the Yorkshire side also stress that Leeds have never approached Newcastle for the defender in either a loan or cash bid. It leaves Targett to potentially fight for his place at Newcastle but the £15million signing from Villa in 2022 has played just 11 Premier League minutes this term.
READ MORE: Sean Longstaff could be set for emotional Newcastle United decision after talk of fresh bid
READ MORE: Newcastle United may have found a mentality monster after Sunderland fume
His best hope to get action is via the FA Cup with a trip to Birmingham offering a possible pathway later this month. Targett suffered a nasty hamstring injury in Newcastle's 3-0 win against Manchester United in November, 2023 before going on to tear his Achilles in the spring. Targett missed all of Newcastle's pre-season games, as a result, but the left-back returned to action for the reserves in August.
He then suffered with a skin disease earlier in the season and missed another chunk of matches. Targett said earlier this term: "When I did my hamstring away at Manchester United and then recovered from that, I think I was back for a week or two and then somehow I got a tear in my Achilles so that set me back another three or four months.
"Going into this season, I knew I'd miss all of pre-season with the team but would try and get back in and around the team for the first games.
"In my head, I was like, 'OK, It's not great that I've missed all the pre-season games, but I'm not missing too much of the season'. I was just focusing on trying to come back as strong as possible for that and then I had the eczema flare-up, which was literally out of the blue, and that knocked me for six so that set me back a bit."
