Harper will be going nowhere!
Posted on July 16th, 2010 | 74 Comments |
Rumours are abound that Neil Lennon is looking to test the resolve of Newcastle by launching a bid for the veteran ‘keeper, but they can bid away as much as they want as I believe that Harper just wont leave, unless the bid is at such a level which makes it hard to resist for the club of course!
Harper has been with Newcastle United for approaching two decades now, but he has still only played around 200 first-team games in his career. The boyhood Liverpool fan has found himself in the unfortunate position of playing second fiddle to Shay Given for a number of years and it is only since he has moved on that the Easington born stopper has had his chance to shine in the first team.
At the ripe old footballing age of 35, Harper is approacching the twilight years of his career and will be relishing the chance of being first choice goalkeeper for Newcastle in the Premier League next season. That will serve as motivation for him and should contribute to him not wanting to upsticks and leave to go to Celtic, although if, by some strange twist of fate, he did leave then we already have adequate cover for the stopper in the shape of Tim Krul and Fraser Forster, so there is nothing to worry about in any eventuality.
Still, Harper spoke to The Daily Star and the rumours of him moving were, perhaps inevitably, brought up. Here is what he had to say.
“I have waited years for the opportunity of first-team football with Newcastle United in the Premier League so I’m not going to turn my back on it now.”
“I still have a couple of years left on my contract and I am looking to play on for as long as possible. I’ve only played around 200 first-team games and, if I can get that up to 400, that would be fantastic.”
There are certainly no utterings of discontent there and seems as though Harper is looking forward to next season already.
Hopefully it will put an end to the Celtic rumours as I am sure the team will want to remain focussed going into the new season. The very fact that he has waited so long for his chance as the number one, and the fact that we are back in the Premier League should have already indicated that, althouh the press are the press and they will run with a story continuously, even if there are denials or quotes that suggest the player and club are happy with the way things are.
Manager Chris Hughton also seems happy that Harper will be leading us into the new Premier League. Speaking to The Shields Gazette, Hughton had this to say;
“Steve’s a very experienced goalkeeper, and he goes into the new season on the back of a very good campaign.”
“At a time when we’re looking at what we have, and what is coming in, we still want to call on as much experience as we can. He’s a quality goalkeeper and he played the whole season for us last year. He remains a very big player for us.”
So there you go. It certainly sounds as though all parties are happy with the way things are currently, and whilst a move to Cetic can’t be fully discounted as yet, you have to say that with both the player and manager being happy it looks unlikely that it will happen.
Roumours eh? Gotta love em!
NUFCBlog Author: toonsy
toonsy has written 643 articles on this blog.
Have to bring krul though soon though.