Because he’s worth it? Villa demand Toon fee for Harewood.
Posted on December 28th, 2009 | 26 Comments |
Apparently Villa want £250,000 as a loan deal fee, despite the fact that we’ve been paying and would continue to his £28,000-a-week wages. Having grabbed 5 goals in 15 games for the Toon, few fans are still convinced he’s worth an extended loan and if the fee is anywhere near the truth, I would expect fans and board alike would baulk at the proposition.
Chris Hughton has been coy on whether Harewood would be required for the remainder of the season, and the player admitted he has no idea what is going on:
“I don’t know what’s going to happen, no-one has told me anything yet. Players don’t really get involved in that – you never really know until it actually happens so I’ll just have to wait and see now,”
“But my time at Newcastle has been unbelievable. I’ve really enjoyed it, the fans have been great, the lads have been great and I feel I’ve got better with every game.”
“I’d love to come back until the end of the season or longer and finish the job now but it’s up to the gaffer if he wants me and the two clubs to sort it out now.”
Chris Hughton had this to say on the situation:
“This was Marlon’s last game, so for the time being at least, he’s reverted to being an Aston Villa player,”
“I’ve spoken to everyone concerned, and we now have to make a decision with regard to Marlon’s future, just like we also have to make a decision with regard to the centre-half position.”
“We’re in the process of weighing up all the options we have. As soon as we’ve done that, we’ll endeavour to make the decision we need to and try to tie up things from there.”
“We have options, but the main thing I want to avoid is any of the situations dragging on deep into January. My biggest hope is that we can put everything to bed early.”
“We’re aware of the situation, and we know we have decision we have to make. We’re in the process of making those and I’m confident it won’t be something that becomes a protracted issue.”
Harewood has had a fairly chequered loan spell, with periods where he looked disinterested and off the pace but conversely he has weighed in with some important goals. He seems to have had a knack of being in the right place for some of the goals, so perhaps he has an element of the natural goalscorer in him. However, whether our style is not suited to him I don’t know, but we don’t seem to get the most out of him. I’d be expecting more from a centre forward but the direct balls to him don’t stick often enough.
He works hard in brief spells but generally flatters to deceive on that front, and the occasional chase-down or backtracking is not enough if you’re not scoring in every game. We need more contribution from our centre forwards. I certainly wouldn’t be keen on paying any sort of loan fee, so if he does come back, so I hope that’s a load of guff.
As for the time being, as deb wrote in her preview, Andy Carroll or Peter Lovenkrands will hope to come into the available forward spot. It could be an important role to play, because despite Shola’s goal return, we need some natural enthusiasm up there and/or a bit of pace.
For a guy that’s out of contract in the summer, we should be able to buy him for 250k, not loan him