Boudebouz in the frame again

Posted on June 22nd, 2011 | 14 Comments |

Ryad Boudebouz one again being linked to Newcastle United.
Consecrated midfielder Ryad Boudebouz
Ryad Boudebouz, the Algerian attacking midfielder, is once again being linked to Newcastle United by the foreign press.

Reports from the Italian press are suggesting that Ryad Boudebouz fancies a move to the English Premier League and Newcastle and Liverpool are said to be the two clubs after his signature.

I reported our potential interest in the player in a previous post back in early June. It was highly speculative then and remains so now.

Now I don’t speak Italian for religious reasons, so all I could do is run it through Google Translate and this, word for word, is what it came up with:

The future of Ryad Boudebouz (21) could be in England. The Algerian gem, owned by Sochaux, love it at Newcastle and Liverpool, with slightly preferred at this time to the first stroke to the player. Boudebouz was consecrated last season with 8 goals scored after 38 Ligue 1 games, standing out among the youth of greater thickness expressed in France in the last tournament.

I think that’s saying he prefers a move to Newcastle but who knows what a consecrated player really wants these days? I always find consecrated people difficult to deal with. A bit like cyclists in that respect.

Boudebouz was originally said to want to remain at Sochaux but the departure of manager Francis Gillot earlier this month apparently angered the player, thus prompting a lot of rumours about his exit.

The 21 year-old is an attacking midfielder and allegedly very good, although I do wonder how many more midfielders we need and that alone makes me a bit doubtful about any potential transfer to us. Boudebouz is certainly too highly-rated to be one we’d bring in ‘for the future’ and I’m sure he would expect regular first-team football.

I remain extremely doubtful at what is, after all, only speculation so we’ll just have to wait and see if the rumour evolves into something more solid. I am however certain that the bit about preferring Newcastle to Liverpool is true, simply because it must be!

Personally I’d like us to sign a top quality striker to play up front alongside Demba Ba.

NUFCBlog Author: Hugh de Payen I'm a baby-boomer of the punk rock persuasion, currently exiled in Somerset for crimes committed in a previous life where locals keep trying to poison me with something called 'scrumpy'. Hates sprouts, coat-hangers, Cilla Black, ornaments, Steven Seagull movies and 50 Cent (he's not worth 10). Hugh de Payen has written 634 articles on this blog.

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Comment on this post

14 Responses

  2. With the recent reports in the press and on the news now site, shola will be the last man left to switch the lights out.

  3. I dont see why we would sell Shola, we are short enough of “strikers” as it is

    plus he doesnt want masses of pay, thus the board will love him

  4. We need to get rid of the much maligned ‘dead wood’ in the squad. R Taylor, Smith, Ranger (who has talent but absolutely no drive or determination) Perch etc.
    The worry is that we’re getting rid of the proven players. How you get rid of someone who doesnt deserve to be at NUFC in the first place, and the premier league at all, is beyond me.
    Shola needs to stay, for all his faults, he knows where the net is. He’s also about the best ‘second string’ striker you could have. By that I mean he’s good enough to be back up should Ba and our mystery striker no1 get injured. While on cloud 9 I’d love to see Sturridge alongside Ba, that’s never going to happen. Neither in Erdinc. Shane Long might be a good aquisition too, but I’ve got a feeling it will be Ben Arfa with Jonas on the right, Marveaux on the left and Cheik with Cabaye in the middle. I fear that Barton, Jose and Colo have all sadly kicked their last ball for the club.

  5. Pardew is talkin about making Colo captain an a club insider is saying we are not actively looking to sell Colo but is a ridiculously high bid comes in it could possibly be accepted

  6. Leeds want Smith for nowt and toon to subsidise his wages for next two years – they having a laugh or what

  7. Don’t we need to get an experienced left back before Jose disappears at the last minute of the last day of the window?

  8. I understand that Smith has been told he can go for free, so his likely options could be home to Leeds or to join the pensioners at West Ham.

    I agree with most that we should keep Shola and being (classed as) a local lad like Harper they are not going to cause any trouble.

    Ranger has blotted his copy book too many times and has not heeded the warnings from Pardew and as an ‘warning’ to all other young players at the club who step out of line, is now being shown the door. He has to go.

    Lovenkrands is fortunate, given his age, to be playing in the Premiership and being well paid and he probably knows it and will not be rocking any boats any time soon. He can stay for now.

    Best is possibly unlucky to be made available as he hasn’t had a decent run in the first team for various reasons. He has, however, shown a willingness to get stuck in and has always shown 100% effort and scored goals but he doesn’t look like a top notch centre forward or second striker we desperately need. He has to go.

    Ryan Taylor and James Perch are borderline as they are good backups as they can cover a number of positions but are they preventing some of the younger players from progressing? Is it better to have young reserve players eager to play in the first team, albeit with little premiership experience or have ‘second rate’ premiership players sitting on the bench and happy to sit on the bench and collect their pay?

    Come the Arsenal match I suppose all will be revealed.

  9. #5 I’d agree with that on Colo

    they’d like to keep him, but in this day every player has a price

    as for club captain, he’d probably do a good job, he’s not the most vocal player I’ve ever seen though

  10. Kamar, I tend to think that Best was a better striker than either Shola or Lover last season, although I’ll admit that his 6 in 12 in one season is a limited sample to judge by.

  11. The whole thing really lies with Jose. If he goes, I think Colo will want out too. I think it’s that simple. If that does happen, we’re in the shiite as noone at the club seems to see just how poor Simpson is. He stands off too far away and anyone with a trick or a bit of pace has him on toast every game. He needs to study Gary Neville when he was at his best. Not fast, but his timing was perfect and his football brain gave him the advantage over most forwards. If we start the new season without our best 2 defenders and a desperately needed right back then all of these encouraging new signings will be uttely pointless. It’s not football sense, just common sense. Surely even Fashley has an ounce of that?

  12. Oh yeah, and you’d have thought Simpson was in the best place to study Neville when he was coming through the ranks at ManU! It appears not…

  14. Ryad Boudebouz, is a attacking midfielder. Good player. Saw him train at the 2010 World Cup and he is French speaking (as well) so would be a good addition considering his age and he was eligble for France after playing for French under 21 teams but he was chased by Algerian management and ZiZu to sign for the country of his birth.