Toon target free agent Jonathan de Guzman, apparently.
Posted on July 8th, 2010 | 49 Comments |
Again we are linked with a player in the newspapers, again there are no quotes, but at least it is a new name on the gossip front, so on that basis it’s worth covering – Never let it be said that I don’t keep you up to date on the latest spin of the rumour wheel!
This latest piece of transfer speculation is regarding Dutch winger Jonathan de Guzman, well I say Dutch but he was actually born in Canada, and an apparent interest from Newcastle in bringing the former Feyenoord player to St James’ Park.
At 22-years old, de Guzman is the right sort of age for Newcastle as we go about building for the future. He had been at Feyennord since the age of 14 and was a product of their youth academy before being promoted to the first-team where he made 127 appearances, scoring 26 goals in the process.
His preferred position is to play as an attacking midfielder, although he has played on the right wing and up front in his time, so he could be of some use to us. He is also available on a free transfer after his Feyenoord contract expired, and that could be of great interest to us as we seek to build a squad for the Premier League on a Championship transfer budget.
As I said earlier, it is just a bit more speculation and rumour, but I do like to debate these kind of things. Ever since pre-season kicked off I think it is fair to say that the rumour mill has spun into overdrive, which is in sharp contrast to the lack of anything, even speculation, for some weeks now.
I know nothing is ever official until it comes direct from the club, that has been drummed in to me enough by now, but I wouldn’t mind seeing this transfer happen. Apparently he has two contract offers already, one from Villareal and one from Espanyol, although he would apparently prefer a move to England instead of Spain.
The lads and Chris Hughton are off to Ireland today for a week long training camp, so it would surprise me if any business was done in the meantime, although I wouldn’t rule it out in case Hughton has identified and confirmed his targets with the board and left them to negotiate, which could be dangerous.
Still, there are tentative signs that things are starting to move in the transfer market. Not just with us, but generally speaking. I expect us to back in the transfer market some more before the window closes, although I would prefer to see it happen sooner rather than later.
Here’s to hoping!
Wahey, 1st!