Barca’s interest in Jose may be unfounded and Erdinç snubs Toon move
Posted on July 9th, 2011 | 18 Comments |
It seems that recent rumours about Barcelona’s interest in Jose Enrique may be unfounded. Enrique’s representative (and brother) Salvador Sanchez said this about any alleged links between his brother and a move to the Nou Camp:
“We know nothing, only what has appeared in the press.”
Barcelona are known to want to strengthen their left side and, after recent attempts to sign José Ángel from Sporting Gijón fell through, it was thought they might turn their attentions to Enrique. However, it seems that Valencia’s Jordi Alba is actually their preferred target.
Some sites are saying that Barcelona have actually come out and said “We will not be trying to sign Enrique” but after a thorough search of the Spanish press for statements from Barcelona I can’t find any evidence of this. That’s not to say it isn’t true of course – my failure to find it might just be due to my incompetence with both the Spanish language and Google.
This is pure guesswork by me but I tend to think that, if Enrique does move, it’s more likely to be to an English team, which really means either Arsenal or Liverpool. If the player is true to his word and wants Champions League football then that really only means Arsenal, unless of course his desire for Champions League football includes some sort of speculation that the arrival of Dalglish and Liverpool’s squad improvements mean that they might be Champions League contenders very soon.
It’s hard to tell what’s going on with this one. Pardew has insisted he’s been offered a very good deal to remain at Newcastle but one man’s good deal might be another man’s pile of tripe and I’m a bit wary that what Mike Ashley might think is a ‘good deal’ might not match Enrique’s take on the concept. Pardew hasn’t given up though and insists:
“We have to do everything we can to persuade him this is the place to be – and get him to sign that new contract.”
All we can do is wait for some movement on the Enrique situation but I fear this dragging on and leaving us with a gaping hole at left-back.
Meanwhile it seems any hope of acquiring Mevlüt Erdinç has disappeared. Apparently we made a formal £7m bid for the player on Tuesday but his agent – Pierre Frelot – said yesterday:
“He will not be going to Newcastle. The player decided not to move and he is staying in Paris for next season.”
That, it would seem, is the end of that.
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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.
Isn’t it amazing that we seem to get bids accepted for players that don’t want to come (Gameiro & Erdinc) but don’t get bids accepted for a player that wants to come (N’Zog). Cue comments like “we did all we could to improve the squad” & “wouldn’t be held to ransom”. I was encouraged by the early activity but it now seems to be settling into a familiar pattern.