Newcastle United, by virtue of having the wealthiest owners in football, are often a good club to use to drum up interest in a player clubs are looking to cash in on.
So many transfer stories involving Newcastle come from agents trying to smoke out genuine interest by linking them with the most up-and-coming club in the Premier League, who also happen to have vast wealth.
It's not a bad tactic, except for the fact that everyone knows PSR exists, and they know Newcastle can't spend as freely as we could if the shackles were off.
However, if done right, these stories can gather pace and start to look legitimate, such as the recent links with Bayer Leverkusen's Victor Boniface.
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Luke Edwards claims Newcastle have no interest in Victor Boniface
The Nigerian forward has been linked to Newcastle in the past, so whipping up the story again to try and get clubs to bid on Boniface does make sense, but it seems that's all that's going on here, according to Luke Edwards, who posted this update on X this morning.
"Newcastle United are not currently discussing a move for Bayer Leverkusen striker Victor Boniface and are mystified by reports they are actively pursuing the player. The German club are desperate to sell the Nigeria international and it seems Newcastle’s name being used to drum up interest #nufc"
It was just a couple of days ago that we reported on Newcastle's interest in Boniface, which claimed we had held talks over a move.
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You can't believe anything these days, we just have to go along for the ride
We thought that one passed the sniff test, especially coming from BILD, which is usually pretty reputable.
It makes us wonder now, which other names linked with Newcastle this summer are just smoke and mirrors from agents?
Victor Boniface wasn't our top choice for the striker role anyway, so we're not upset that the story is potentially horseradish, but it does show that you really can't believe everything you read ... Luke Edwards could be talking out of his keister, we just don't know.