Anthony Gordon is said to be close to signing a new deal with Newcastle United following weeks of speculation about a move to Liverpool.

Newcastle United chiefs fumbled the bag a bit in the summer when scrambling for ways to make up a PS60 million shortfall in the PSR reporting figures.

While the club ultimately sold two promising young stars in the form of Yankuba Minteh and Elliot Anderson (and brought in PS20 million's worth of pointlessness in Odysseas Vlachodimos) there was a moment where the club discussed selling winger Anthony Gordon to Liverpool as a last act of desperation.

Fortunately, the club's higher-ups quickly came to their senses on that one but the media were like a dog with a bone and the story that Gordon is moving to Liverpool persisted to the point where it affected his ability to break into England's Euro2024 team.

Anthony Gordon could have a verbal agreement with Newcastle. Come on! Football Insider have claimed there's a 'verbal agreement' between Gordon and Newcastle It took Anthony Gordon a few games to get going this season too, which fuelled speculation that his head had been turned by the thought of joining his boyhood club, but soon enough it was revealed that Gordon was in talks to sign a new long-term contract with a hefty pay increase.

Recent reports even suggested that there's no release clause in the new deal which is said to be very close to being signed.

However, Football Insider have today ran a story that makes absolutely zero sense and upon reading it clearly came purely from the top of Peter O'Rourke's head. How anyone believes anything this guy puts his name to at this point is beyond me. But we must give credit where its due, his articles do their job - he gets the clicks for Football Insider, so fair play.

We love a bit of fiction but this is the type of thing that will spread as fact In his latest work of fiction, O'Rourke has suggested that Newcastle and Gordon will likely have entered into a 'verbal agreement' that would see Gordon allowed to leave if Newcastle don't get into the Champions League in the next two seasons.

That is then backed up by ... absolutely nothing. Nothing at all. There's not even a mention of one of their 'sources close to the club', it has all seemingly come completely from the brain of Peter O'Rourke.

The worst thing is, is that if you take away just how unlikely it is that a club and a player would add a verbal addendum to such a big contract, the idea that a clause which sees Gordon allowed to leave if the club fails to achieve their goals, would actually make sense, so people will likely believe it and spread the news.