How do you rate this transfer window?
Posted on August 31st, 2010 | 263 Comments |
Newcastle have swelled their ranks with five senior players over the summer, and one of those in particular has been rather eye catching.
Hatem Ben Arfa is the signing which most fans want to see in action. The 23-year old Frenchman should be just what the doctor ordered and will add some gallic flair and creativity to the ranks. The lad has undoubted talent, although there will no doubt be question marks, as there is with most overseas players, whether or not he will be able to produce those moments of magic we know he is capable of in the Premier League.
Then there is Cheick Tiote who will play as a defensive midfielder. Signed from FC Twente for a fee believed to be around £3.5 million, the 24-year old looks like a brutal player built in similar stature to a brick outhouse. He has been tipped to thrive in the Premier League and will go toe-to-toe with Alan Smith in the battle for the defensive midfield spot.
Experience at the back has also been added in the rather ample shape of Sol Campbell. Sol took some stick on his arrival at Newcastle as he looked to be carrying a bit of extra weight. A lack of pre-season training has meant he has been unable to make his debut, although he will make that against Sunderland reserves at the Stadium of Light later on this evening.
James Perch was brought in by Chris Hughton as a utility player. Hughton has had an eye on him for a while now, or so he said, although I am sure Colin Calderwood will have also given Perch a good reference after they worked together at Nottingham Forest. It’s still early days for Perch and the jury is still out with a lot people regarding the ability of the player, although in my opinion he has improved on his rather shaky pre-season form in his last few games.
Last up is Dan Gosling, who we will unfortunately not see until the new year. A bit of an unknown quantity in fairness, although he was starting to get more games in the Everton before he suffered his cruciate ligament injury. We managed to sign Gosling for free after a rather acrimonious contract wrangle between the player and Everton. Nothing to do with Newcastle, we were just there to take advantage of the situation and pick up the pieces.
All in all some good business done by the club whilst not outlaying a massive amount of cash. I would have liked us to sign a back-up left-back, although that will probably end up being James Perch, and maybe another striker, but overall I am rather happy with what has been achieved in this transfer window.
Credit has to go to Hughton, Llambias (I know) and Ashley (yes, I know) for conducting business so efficiently and relatively swiftly. It has meant that deadline day has been pretty boring for a Newcastle fan, but it is nice to know that we have already done some good bits of business and haven’t been scraping around for deadline day deals like we have been before.
Hindsight is a wonderful thing!
Very pleased. :)