The French Connection: Ben Arfa, Cabaye, Gameiro (bid accepted) and Ba

Posted on June 1st, 2011 | 52 Comments |

Newcastle United's bid for Kevin Gameiro is accepted.
£10m bid accepted
Newcastle United’s team could take on a distinctly French feel if the club’s transfer plans work out as they want.

Apparently Lorient have accepted Newcastle’s £10m offer for Kevin Gameiro and it’s now up to the player to decide if Newcastle can trump his first choice of Valencia.

A couple of things are definitely in our favour.

First of all, Mike Ashley’s policy of paying entire transfer fees in one go is said to have been one of the main reasons why Lorient accepted the offer. Valencia on the other hand would be paying in instalments, as per Spanish football’s standard operating procedure.

Second, in terms of persuading the player himself to come to Newcastle, it certainly won’t hurt that we have Yohan Cabaye and Hatem Ben Arfa in our squad to help their fellow countryman feel at home, at least linguistically.

On paper the triple-pronged French offensive of Cabaye and Ben Arfa in midfield and Gameiro up front looks exciting and hopefully the new Frenchies will be able to adapt to Premier League football fairly quickly.

The spanner in the works is of course Gameiro’s stated desire to join Valencia but allegedly he’s interested enough in Newcastle to take a look at our facilities, so all is not lost on that front.

And what does the Mediterranean have that the North Sea doesn’t? When all said and done it’s just salty water.

To add to the overall Frenchness of our transfer targets, there’s our alleged interest in taking Demba Ba from West Ham, who was also born in France. Whilst in general I’m no fan of people with two-letter surnames, his 7 goals in 12 games for West Ham is a pretty good return and bringing Ba to Newcastle could see us with a quartet of Gallic footballing ability.

Much is yet to be determined of course. Gameiro may not be persuaded to give up his Valencian preferences and Ba might not even be a Toon target at all. And even if we do end up with all four players they still have to produce the goods on the pitch.

Nevertheless, I have a guarded optimism about our recent transfer targets.

How about you?

“Gannin ‘alang la route Scotswood pour voir les courses Blaydon.“

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

52 Responses

  1. I thought we were over signing injury-prone and players who didnt really want to play for us.Lets not get exited for the wrong reasons, AGAIN

  2. I’d love to get the two of them although it may create a clique in the dressing room which we dont want. What we do want is to get a few quality striking options so we can get rid of some of the average strikers we have on board.

  3. Well living in the Med having lived in Edinburgh before, I can tell you the Med has quite a lot to offer & not just salty water.. ;);)

    I think Ashley should maybe throw in a house to the deal, same as Shepard did for Shearer when he came home.. lol

    I know I shouldn’t say this but I have a muckem acquaintance & he reckons that Pardew has curried favour with his old contacts at the Wet Spams to make us favourite to sign Ba off them… now it could be bull but you never know these days, a mean a muckem telling the truth, nothing else.. lol lol

  4. In the interests of research I’ll pop out to the Med later this month and see what the fuss is about.

    See the things I do for this blog?

  5. Like most Geordies, I’m the eternal pessimist when it comes to all things NUFC. The noises coming out of SJP are all well and good, as long as these guys aren’t replacements and they are there to strengthen the team. I’m worried the likes of Tiote, Enrique and Colocini will be on their way out the door.

    Somone mentioned which team NUFC should model themselves on. It should be only one team – Barcelona. Seven of their 1st team players, who have won everything,came from the academy. Now that’s what you want. If you’ve got seven top quality players for effectively nowt, you can afford to go and splash money on the next Messi, Ronaldo, Frank Pingle.

  6. Forgot to say, talking of West Ham, anyone fancy Scott Parker back? He carried that team last year.
    Also nice to see the hammers board have the manager they deserve. Good luck “Big” Sam, it’s a match made in heaven. Feel sorry for the hammers fans though.

  7. Demba Ba 7 goals in 12 games on a free transfer. = 56%
    £35M Andy Carroll 11 goals from 18, at NUFC, was it? someone pls confirm. = 63% almost….

    mmmm?

  9. If we get Kevin (which doesn’t sound very French to me)Gameiro then it’s definately Howay Les Gars

  10. Demba Ba for free is definately worth the money if only for all the puns with his name.

  11. Thought the Spurts were after Parker as a replacement for Modric… lol

    Hugh fella, you should, it’s 29c here today & lovely.. ;)

    As for players going, I don’t think anyone below the top 4 could afford to buy Tiote of us, as I don’t think Ashley gave him that 6yr contract for no reason & it would, imo take a bid in excess of £30m to prise him away from us this summer but if Tiote is true to his word, he doesn’t like London, so you can scrub at least 2 of the top 4 straight away & the other 2 already have players in his position, so na, can’t see him leaving!!!

  13. Toon69

    I live by the Med (it’s a cloudless bright blue sky today and the sea is sparkling) and it’s a lot better than Whitley Bay.

  14. If he have to choose football club to play and the beach is the reason. I don’t think we should look to sign him

  15. how do you know the bids been accepted mate? Tryin to find some more info on this elsewhere but struggling.

  16. thats not the med – isnt it the adriatic? – oh and by the way – the main thing we have that the Med doesnt is Tides – twice a day. So there.

  17. Good noises coming out of the club bar the barton news.The fella slot 4 dint forget every1s post card :) as for scott parker some1 said he carried west ham last season,were to wasnt it to relegation lmao.

  20. Dont want to plss on anyone’s French Fries (see what I did there ?) but the news isnt good coming out of SJP for the former Level 7 gang.

    NUFC view has it that

    “However this was all under the understanding that those that sat in Level 7 would be relocated together to a different section of the ground. Up untill today that section was going to be Leazes level 4 with many fans choosing to renew there in hope of continuing the great atmosphere that comes from the singing area. However today many fans were called saying that there renewal had been unsuccessfull because Level 4 was being reserved for businessess, parties, football clubs etc. This is in all honesty, a disgrace. Why should the rights of hardcore Newcastle supporters rank below those that go to the match on special occasions, and in fact corporate ticket holders often don’t support the team at all. The plan now for those fans is to try and snap up the last remaining tickets in the South East (Strawberry Corner) but this is still not good enough as there are only 200-300 seats available compared to the 2000-3000 fans that sat in Level 7”

    WTF does the Fatman do this ? These are real hardcore supporters who (admittedly) sung “Get out of our club” but they are the lifeblood of the this club at away matches.

    Once a Cant always a Cant Fatman :(

  21. Sorry to be negative, but I wont believe we will get any of the previously mentioned players, until I hear something official from the club, or they are in the Black n White
    Been here before and made fools of by the fat man.

  22. BB,
    you might be waiting a while mate, not much in the way of ‘parading players’ these days.
    :)

  25. I’m just wondering where this is leading to in terms of formation next season ? Although KG is a striker he doesnt look like a typical No. 9 nor is Gervinho either.

    With HBA either supporting the main striker or playing the left side of a front three are we looking to a fluid 4-3-3 next season with no apparent CF or even 4-2-3-1?

    Not sure the faithful at SJP could handle that :)

  26. Andymac, id love to see a 4-2-3-1, problem is the players we have struggle to adapt to any formation other than 4-4-2, so it depends on what players come in.

    With both a 4-3-3 and 4-2-3-1 you will also need full backs who push on, no problem if enrique stays but simpson i think is not the answer.

  27. 41211 or 433 with the occasional 442 4411.
    Fluidity is the way forward, depending on the opposition.
    The 41211 would be a diamond MF, Tiote at DM.

  28. If we get some real pace up top, then that reduces the need for a ‘big no.9’, but there’s Best who could come in for that type target man, i suppose.

  32. I think its a 3-2-1-2-1-1, tonker was bassetts sixpence so i guess nolan would be ours :-)

  33. Toon69 says:
    June 1, 2011 at 9:09 am

    “I know I shouldn’t say this but I have a muckem acquaintance & he reckons that Pardew has curried favour with his old contacts at the Wet Spams to make us favourite to sign Ba off them… now it could be bull”

    Doubt it very much Toon69 as Pardew has no more influence over West Ham’s current owners than anyone else.

  34. wow!if we manage to pull off all these deals,that would be a great transfer season in it’s own right!a fantastic one especially if the frenchie’s can invoke the spirit of ginola and put some gallic flair into the team.well,dept’s where we’re quite well stocked are goal and midfield.we’re obviously working to sharpen our attack,now wouldn’t it be just brilliant if our defence gets shored up too?

  35. Jimbob says:
    June 1, 2011 at 4:54 pm

    “How bout mike bassetts christmas pudding formation?”

    Newcastle United play 4-4-f***ing-2!

  36. arka says:
    June 1, 2011 at 6:04 pm
    “especially if the frenchie’s can invoke the spirit of ginola and put some gallic flair into the team.”

    not sure about Gallic flair, there might just be a stale whiff of GARLIC…

  37. …or fresh garlic, either way, yuk! as far as i’m concerned…hate the stuff.
    :)

  38. workyticket says:
    June 1, 2011 at 6:16 pm

    “Newcastle United play 4-4-f***ing-2!”

    Ha ha now if only pards press conferences were like bassetts, i would not mind him talking so much

    As for garlic, I worked on a garlic farm in australia last year for 6weeks, no one could hate it more than me :-)

  39. Jimbob says:
    June 1, 2011 at 6:57 pm

    “Ha ha now if only pards press conferences were like bassetts, i would not mind him talking so much”

    Jimbob, What about Joe Kinnear’s press conferences?

    Actually, it wouldn’t surprise me if Derek Llambias announces one day that they’ve appointed Mike Bassett as manager.

  40. Worky, same mate. I honestly would not be shocked if he were apointed! Guess that says alot about derek and mike :-)

    Kinnear just made me angry when he spoke, did you ever notice inbetween the sh**e coming out of his mouth, he would clear his throat.

    example…

    “I ugh uhh, thought ugh uhh, we ugh huh hurr, played well today huuuh eh.

    Think he just got abit too excited. crazy

  41. jimbob,
    how did you survive mate?
    :)

    I’d give you a good run for y’money in the garlic hating stakes though still.
    :)

  42. Clint, I did it to count towards a second year visa, so ill be heading back that way for good hopefully soon.

    you have to do kinds of work like that for a total of 3 months to get another year visa. Also did grape picking for all of 2 weeks, Everytime i see grapes in the supermarket i get a cold sweat now :-)

    Worst job ever, especially in 40 degree heat!

  43. I reckon jfk did a good job for us, untill tht press conference we were the paper’s laughing stock. Hardly touCh us nw

  44. jimbob.
    so you gonna move to OZ?

    Don’t blame ya’ like.

    Rather pick grapes than garlic, rather stick pins in me eyes than pick garlic.
    :)

  45. Worjackiec says:
    June 1, 2011 at 8:05 pm

    “I reckon jfk did a good job for us,”

    So do I Worjackie. The gadgie almost popped his clogs managing us and we treated him like shite.

  46. Clint, yeah or new zealand, ive bin backpacking the last two years, stopped now obviously, ran out of money so gotta save up again. If you have never been that way you should look into it, infact anywhere that isnt england :-)

    Gettin up at 4am to watch newcastle can be a nightmare though!

  47. Yeah interesting it was simon bird giving jfk hassle, and he is a toon fan aint he? On the pitch was fine, just annoyed me when he spoke. Bit like pardew I suppose, but jfk certainly on paper had a much stronger squad.

  48. jimbob,
    i’d love to get out there for a looksee.
    Got a lotta friends out there.
    & they ‘sorta’ speak english too.
    :)

  49. Your get by with english clint ;-)

    Just dont complain bout the heat, or be upset if it rains. They love it when it rains in some places :-)

  52. newcastle should get kevin gamriero and daneille sturidge and gervinho.Demba could be bit hit and missy but does look exciting player. I do think berbotov is a good player but would he shine on tyneside.He would go against everythig mike ashley stands for when he talks about bringing younger players in. I think we should let jose enrique go if he wants to be away and bring in someone fresh who wants to wear black and white strpies with pride. nzogbia good player but bad attiude. I think if we sighn the players that are being talked about could be exciting season for uss geordies.