Newcastle United star Allan Saint-Maximin has playfully weighed in on rumours suggesting his club is interested in signing Everton defender Lucas Digne this month.
The French full-back's relationship with Blues boss Rafa Benitez looks to be irreconcilable after the latest development.
Benitez revealed in a press conference on Friday that Digne had asked to leave the club, while also accusing the former Barcelona man of caring more about individual stats than the overall good of the team.
Digne has been linked with a move to Italian champions Inter, while a group of Premier League sides including Chelsea, West Ham United, Aston Villa and Newcastle have also been mentioned as possible destinations.
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The latter certainly have the cash to bring in the left-back, having been taken over by mega-rich Saudi owners earlier this season.
But, according to transfer guru Fabrizio Romano, Digne will not be headed to the north east with Newcastle ruled out as an option by the Italian reporter.
"Digne will not join Newcastle. No way," Romano wrote bluntly on Twitter.
So definitive was his verdict that Magpies star Saint-Maximin was tempted into responding to the latest development in his compatriot's ongoing transfer saga.
"Ok Fabrizio just to clarify, is Lucas Digne going to join Newcastle?" was the pacy forward's tongue-in-cheek reply.
Digne's path to leave Everton has been cleared by the arrival of the man who looks to be his ready-made replacement already this month.
Vitaliy Mykolenko was signed earlier this week, with Everton acting quickly to secure the signature of the Ukrainian full-back from Dynamo Kiev.
It means Digne may have already played his final game for the club, with Benitez claiming the Frenchman has made it clear that he no longer wishes to stay on Merseyside.
"I've had a couple of conversations with him, he told me what he thought," the Blues manager told reporters on Friday.
"So what do you expect the manager to do when he's thinking about leaving?
"I will say again, fans and former players, what would Peter Reid say if a player goes to the manager he doesn't want to be here?
"Simple."
