Taarabt in, Barton out?

Posted on June 19th, 2011 | 43 Comments |

Newcastle United are allegedly interested in Adel Taarabt.
Another midfielder?
It will come as no surprise to Newcastle United fans that the club is now being strongly linked with another midfielder with French connections, although Arsenal’s alleged interest in Joey Barton may be a little more surprising.

I am most disappointed to find we haven’t signed any new players yet today. Ashley oot!

There is a fair bit of gossip though and I’ll summarise a couple of the grooviest bits of it here. Bear in mind though that the gossip provided in this article is done so by professionals and you must under no circumstances try this at home.

This might be hard to believe, but we’re being connected with yet another midfielder in the shape of Adel Taarabt. There were rumblings about him a few weeks ago too – and we did apparently get a £5m bid for him rejected in January – but the fires of speculation have been reignited with some comments Taarabt has made recently. The QPR player said:

“They want me to stay four years on the same terms. I don’t want to sign for four years then after one year I am going to be back in The Championship.

“No disrespect, but if we keep the same players, it will be very difficult to stay in the Premier League when you are playing Manchester United and Chelsea.

“I helped QPR win promotion but they will not offer me a better contract. They say I am already on big wages.“

So it sounds like he has absolutely no faith in QPR’s chances next season and I’m sure his comments will go down well with the QPR manager and fans alike! Apparently QPR won’t let him go for less than £10m, about which Taarabt says:

“It’s a lot of money because I have not been successful yet in the Premier League, but when Rangers sell me, they have to give 40 per cent of the fee to Tottenham, my first club.”

And the player clearly has no plans to play in the French league, saying:

“Why should I go to France and play some games in front of 7,000 people? I like it in England. The stadiums are full all the time. I understand that QPR have changed my life. People had almost forgotten me when I joined from Tottenham. But I don’t think they are being fair to me.”

Furthermore, he rather fancies playing for Newcastle:

“People say Newcastle will be good for me, that the fans love players like me. It is fantastic to play in front of 50,000 supporters every week. I do not need one of the very big clubs at this stage of my career.”

Well let me tell you Tarby, we are a massive club! Anyway, given those comments and Pardew’s alleged recent interested in the 22 year-old, he is being strongly tipped for a Toon move. He scored 19 in 44 games for QPR last season and, although actually Moroccan, the French connection is still there, in keeping with our transfer policy.

It could be a case of one in and one out if speculation about Joey Barton is to be believed. According to no less an authority than The Star, Alex McLeish is preparing (as we speak, over his cornflakes) a £3m bid to take our player of the season to Aston Villa.

I would imagine that Ashley would certainly be keen to get rid of Barton after some of his recent Twitties and whatever; they have been less than complementary about Ashley’s transfer policies.

Just for good measure there’s speculated interest in both Barton and Enrique from Arsenal in what would no doubt be a ‘double swoop’ in press parlance. The People speculates that Wenger will offer £1.5m for Barton but I have my doubts about this story on two counts. First, I’m not convinced Barton is the sort of player Wenger would buy and, second, £1.5m seems an awfully low bid for Joey Barton.

Anyway, make what you will of all that nonsense!

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.

Related Posts:

Posted on by Hugh de Payen in category: Hugh de Payen and Joey Barton and Mike Ashley and NUFC gossip and speculation and Transfers , with tags: ,
Comment on this post

43 Responses

  1. Why do we need another midfielder we need two strikers so loven can be shown the door

  2. well i don’t know about this one! deffo he has some talent. watched him last yr in the championship but he is still unproven in the PL what i did like tho he has great skill and eye for goal and good vision and he is not that lightweight either unlike most of fcuk lads we brought in! xD hope u guys got the gag ;)

  3. Quality player but unproven in the Prem so they should forget 10 mill. I’d keep Barton for the remainder of his contract while the newbies settle in. It’s about time we saw some of that cash on a couple of quality centre forwards.

  4. I think this new Pardew strategem of playing a 4-8-2 formation next season could pay dividends. Of course we’ll need to recruit Derren Brown to do his stuff on the match officials and some clever cgi types to doctor the match footage but it’s certainly worth a try. :)

  5. Would rather take n’zogbia back seeing the price we are being quoted is also 10 million.

  6. oh god please let this be true. Taraabt maybe cocky but what a talent. Barton is cocky but has a lot of baggage and is injury prone, as well as being nearly 30. As far as I know Taraabt hasn’t been in jail or beaten anyone up, keeps himself fit because he doesn’t drink and doesn’t get endless yellow and red cards. What he does do is win matches.If Barton is going, I think we will see more and more players wanting to join us, especially French ones.

  7. young quality player , bring him in, the more strength in depth the better, sturridge in and i,ll be a happy chappy

  9. I think you are spot on toondave use routledge as bait taarabt is a very good footballer with great technicall ability he would be a very good addition to the club.

    I would offer 5-6mill and routledge as part of the deal.

  12. Posts 8 and 9 – u realise we already sold them Routledge in January??..do u mean to lean on the favour we did them, asking for one back in return?

  16. Dint want him guys ganna be trouble and upset the dressing room and his atitiude sucks.

  17. my bad – it was a loan to QPR, in my head i waved goodbye forever.

    Taarbat was in the Sun on Friday saying: “I love the London clubs very much, and i wont hide the fact i find Chelsea a big turn-on”….”I have 2 years left on my QPR deal, but contacts are in place with the big 4”.

    This seems to signal he does want to leave, and a lot can change in a couple of days (the sun also ran a headline “Kop’s new boy is a real Marveaux” !!), but maybe he reconsidered his options and thought an unproven PL player would just sit on the bench in the Big4…?

  18. Very good player but seems like a bit of a cock – we had enough cocks (fair enough not as good mind) when we went down – probably one of the reasons we did go down – avoid

  19. No doubt an amazing talent! If we can change his bad attitude then great, if not avoid!! Bring back zog as a striker and give ben arfa a chance up top!

  20. TOONARMYELITE says:
    June 19, 2011 at 9:56 am

    “Dint want him guys ganna be trouble and upset the dressing room”

    He’ll probably upset the dressing room ceiling if his QPR antics are anything to go by.

  21. Sunday bloody Sun -day saying we’re no longer after Zoggy. So that’s a fact, then!

  22. I posted this fairly speculative team sheet late last night:

    Harper

    Simpson – Colo – Saylor – New LB/Izaguerrio?

    BenArfa – Cabaye – Tiote – Marveaux

    Ba – Ameobie (1 or 2)

    Subs: Joans, Barton/Gosling/Gutherie, Abeid, Raylor/ Willo.

    Where would Taarbat fit in? doesn’t sound like he’d want to ride out time on the bench…

  24. Harper

    Simpson – Colo – Saylor – LB

    Tiote – Cabaye

    BenArfa – Taarbat – Marveaux

    -Ba-
    That looks quite interesting….Can Ba play as a lone striker?

  25. Krul
    N’Zogbia, Taylor, Coloccini, Simpson
    Jonas, Tiote, Cabaye, Marveux
    Ba, Ben Arfa

  26. kevin nolan in the notw giving pardew some stick,then another article more or less saying pardew is a yesman.

  27. Taatbat is a massive helm…

    “I never want to play for the national team again, with or without (Morocco coach) Eric Gerets.”

    “I decided to quit the national team after learning that I was not going to start against Algeria,” Taarabt explained.

    “I left without giving any explanations to the coach. I did not want to create any problems within the squad.”

    “The national team is now finished for me. I would prefer to represent my country through my club.”

    This was recent, no respect at all.

    add this to how he just showed no respect qpr.

  28. TROJAN 69 says:
    June 19, 2011 at 11:02 am

    “kevin nolan in the notw giving pardew some stick”

    Trojan, it was one of those “sources close to the player” ones.

  29. aye worky,just wondering if there was any truth in it,pardew would look like a puppet,without any say.

  30. Jimbob @27 – agreed, playing for ur country should be highest honour above club/wife/kids/ANYTHING!

    what a twat, he was never that amazing at spurs – but has come on leaps and bounds at QPR/Championship level…

  31. Although, saying that – @30 – he’s obviously got talent and if he did sign we’d not have to worry about him being away on INt duty!

  32. workyticket says:

    “Trojan, it was one of those “sources close to the player” ones”

    Sources close is another way of saying “I want the world to know but I’m not going to say it”

    I wondered if Pardwho had a hidden agenda especially when Barton and Nolan (the two most senior players in the dressing room in terms of clout) are shown the door. Knew he was stupid just didnt think he was that stupid :)

  33. TROJAN 69 says:
    June 19, 2011 at 11:18 am

    “aye worky,just wondering if there was any truth in it”

    Well we could all make guesses about stuff Trojan, and sometimes those guesses may indeed be true. However more often than not they will be false, and most of these unsubstantiated stories in the tabloids are little different, ie repoerters making wild guesses then claiming they come from mysterious sources close to the player.

  34. I dunno what’s in the artical on Nolan, but i wouldnt be suprised if he was slating Pards, given that he’s no longer in the Toon picture.

    Re: Barton, cant see Arse wanting him (unless Wenger needs grit that they lack, but is he really gonna push Fab or Diaby or Song outta midfield??) – But i could imagine McLeish wanting that kind of player at Villa…how much wud we get on an oldish player wiv 1 year left – 2million?? I’d rather keep him (if he wants to stay)

  35. He sounds like a c0ck to me. Main reason he’s played so well for QPR is the fact that he’s given pretty much a free role, and of course he’s playing at a lower level. We don’t need another bl00dy midfielder anyway. 2 STRIKERS!!!!!

  36. I’m sure Pardew wants the old Hughton coalition of Joey, Smith and Nolan out of the dressing room, just wield too much influence.
    The guy was smart enough to co-opt them at the first opportunity and in doing so got the rest of the players on his side, whether it lasted or not ? we will eventually find out.

    Joey aint going to Arsenal, bet the farm on that !
    Nor is Enrique!

    Taarabt ? Hmmmm! an obvious talent, he or N’Zogbia, what the hell why not both, we aint spent shit so far.
    Yea there;s always the knockers as usual, who know the guy personally and assure us he would upset the dressing room, as they claimed N’Zogbia, Joey, Ireland and a host of others would.
    Then there are those complaining about too many midfielders
    Well in to-days game you have too have a deep bench, which we havent had since SBR, injuries, resting people, horses for courses, etc.
    Personally i watch football as entertainment and thank goodness i dont have to watch last seasons boring side, we may have some entertaining football with the side now in progress.

    But again we can’ neglect our defense it needs attention, would like to see M’Bengue or Izaguirre plus put in a bid for rarely used Bassong.

    I think we will eventually sign Erdinc, but not for the £10 being asked, he’s probably a gamble as is our signing of an injury prone Marveaux and Ba, but hey, a done deal!!

  37. Well Arsenal let Mark Randall out on free yesterday, talking about squad depth we can have him and jonathan Woodgate for no transfer money. I am stunned to the negative comments of the owners of Newcastle, you actually think that if we pay millions for a player he be better than if free… Taraabt is a great player, get him in for sure.

  38. chuck says:
    June 19, 2011 at 1:43 pm

    “I’m sure Pardew wants the old Hughton coalition of Joey, Smith and Nolan out of the dressing room, just wield too much influence.”

    Perhaps it was the other way round and it was Barton and Nolan who wanted to bail out. Either way, it was always inevitable that there would be some kind of exodus after Pardew joined the club.

  39. Don’t let Barton go, this will be the poorest decision this coming season if we do.

    We don’t have an adequate replacement and will be hard to find one for what we pay for players.

    Just shows how highly he’s rated when Arsenal are after him..

  40. Taarabt certainly has talent……pick em up…..i think it’s wonderful how we haven’t really used any of the 35 mil….hopefully we can an elite striker for 15-20 mil…..any rumours other than erdinc gomez and sow?

  41. @30 “I’m sure Pardew wants the old Hughton coalition of Joey, Smith and Nolan out of the dressing room, just wield too much influence.”
    I think the decision to move out Barton Smith and Nolan iz purely economical and as such is coming more from Ashley than Pardew. Talk of anything else (power struggles and the like) is simply chatter.

    Taarabt would most likely serve as cover for Ben Arfa. I’m not sure what condition Ben Arfa will come back in, so perhaps cover isn’t a bad idea. On the other hand, based on his quotes, Taarabt seems a bit of a prima donna and might not be satisfied with a squad role.

    I would much rather see us strengthen the defense, sign an out and out winger and snap up another striker.

  42. JayDee says:
    June 19, 2011 at 9:37 pm

    “I think the decision to move out Barton Smith and Nolan iz purely economical and as such is coming more from Ashley than Pardew. Talk of anything else (power struggles and the like) is simply chatter.”

    But doesn’t that itself sound like some kind of power struggle JayDee? That of Pardew trying to keep some kind of control of his squad as they are bought and sold over his head?

  43. get sturrige on loan with a view to buy at end of season. get Taarabt prima donna or not the guy can play football god now how many assits and goals he got last season dont even care if they were in there championship 10 million is cheap in todays market give the guy a freerole behind the strickers hes that good and joey barton why the hell sell are best player for a crazy million 2 3 miliion even if he only got a year left on contract better of keeping him.my team 4 3 3 GK krul RB d simpson CB s taylor CB colochini LB enrique CM j barton AM Taarabt CM tioti CF demba ba CF sturrige CF ben arfa