Pablo Aimar has rejected the chance to don the famous black-and-white stripes, agreeing to join Portuguese giants Benfica for €7.5 million, around £6.25 million. The Real Zaragoza forward was heavily linked to the Magpies throughout the week, with Everton also mentioned, but it appears that the lure of St James Park was not enough as Aimar chose Champions League football.

Zaragoza communications director Luis Sol told Portuguese website maisfutebol.iol.pt:

He is about to sign a contract with Benfica. Between Zaragoza and Benfica everything is sorted out. The doors are open for Aimar to become Benfica player.

Keegan is also eyeing West Ham defender Anton Ferdinand, who also looks set to snub a move north. Having sealed the signing of Danny Guthrie from Liverpool and Jonas Gutierrez from Real Mallorca, are Newcastle fans at all worried about the ‘targets’ that King Kev is missing out on? Or are they happy with the squad they have, considering there was a late-season burst of form from the Magpies?

Sporting Lisbon midfielder maestro Miguel Veloso has been tracked by a number of top European clubs, a collection of which now includes Arsenal, according to the players agent Paulo Barbosa.

Barbosa claims that Arsenal are making moves to sign the player, but whether a fee is agreed with Sporting or they trigger his release clause (€30million) remains to be seen:

It is not secret to anyone that he wants to play abroad.

We did not have normal contact from the Arsenal board, but from a member of the technical staff at the club.

At the moment there is not a formal offer yet, but it is possible that will happen soon as Juventus and Ac Milan have shown an equal interest in the player.

The fee is likely to be rather inflated due to the 22-year-old’s newly signed contract that runs until 2013, a fact that will please his agent. However, Sporting have a tradition of allowing important youngsters to move on with Hugo Viana, Christiano Ronaldo and Nani all leaving when interest from English parties arose.