Kevin Nolan off to West Ham?
Posted on June 15th, 2011 | 121 Comments |
Sky Sports, Twitter and countless other websites are reporting that Kevin Nolan is currently in London having a medical for the Hammers and that is dire, dire news if true. My usual optimism has been completely depleted as I’ve watched the betting odds being slashed over the past hour to a mind boggling 1/4 at my last check. Kevin Nolan, Joey Barton, José Enrique – where is it going to end? Jonas, Coloccini – how many other first team players can we sell?
The irony is that Pardew has been talking about Champions League football and that is where our ambitions should lie. His reasoning for European competition? Keeping our best players.
Speaking specifically about Enrique, Pardew said this:
“We have got to become more competitive as a football club so players like José don’t want to leave. He has Champions League aspirations and he is waiting to see whether anyone who has qualified for that competition is willing to come in for him.”
“That is his right and there isn’t much more we can do about it. We have tried as hard as we can, in the financial situation we are in, to keep him. We offered him an excellent deal, but he doesn’t seem to be interested in signing it at the moment.”
“It is frustrating – but that is the situation we are in. It is up to him, but he wants to see what else there is for him.”
The speculated price is £3m plus a player. Who that player is, is another question entirely although French fullback Julien Faubert has been mentioned and at 27 I can’t see him being a great choice given our supposed ‘youth policy’ and the contract dealings being bandied about the Toon.. Last I checked there isn’t many Hammers players I’d bring to Newcastle although it does worry me considering that we have been linked to one specific West Ham player over the past couple of weeks… and that player is Carlton Cole.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure Carlton is a lovely lad but his statistics are hardly mind blowing when you consider that Shola Ameobi is, statistically speaking, a better player than he is.
Expect to see an exodus from the hallowed turf if there is truth to this rumour which there definitely appears to be. It’s quite rare that the bookmakers get things wrong and seeing Kevin Nolan drop not only our armband and the stripes but also a division is a very accurate look into the true state of our once great club.
Thanks for the memories, Kev.
sad to see him go – but cant really see where he will fit in next season. Bad for morale though. I hope we have a plan….