Neil Taylor situation at impasse while Enrique is in discussion with Newcastle chiefs

Posted on July 8th, 2011 | 25 Comments |

Neil Taylor allegedly keen on move to Newcastle United.
Wants to join us ... allegedly
Newcastle United appear to have resolved little in the last week. Still no Neil Taylor, Enrique is in contract talks, Mevlüt Erdinç is looking like a no-go, Shane Long said to be the latest target and Llambias confuses at least one Toon fan.

Alreet Geordies, hope you’ve been well while I’ve been holidaying in the Med. I haven’t seen a single British newspaper for a week and I’m completely out of touch with what’s been going on at the club, so – although I’ve tried to catch up a bit since getting back – forgive me if I cover old ground. The only ‘news’ I saw while away was about someone getting married in Monaco, which hardly had me moist with excitement.

One thing I thought might have been completed in my week’s absence is the signing of Neil Taylor, but I note that’s still dragging on. Swansea Chairman Huw Jenkins said:

“Neil has a contract and he is our player for another two years. The question is not whether he will stay with us, it is whether things will go the other way. We will find out the answer to that in the next few weeks.”

However an ‘insider close to Naylor’ apparently said:

“Neil is due back on Monday for pre-season training, but whether he turns up remains to be seen. He still isn’t happy about the situation and is obviously keen to join Newcastle United.“

It seems we haven’t updated our original £1.1m bid yet though and are allegedly not planning to do so. Many in the press are estimating that Naylor is worth £2.5m. I’m not sure about that but it’s certainly better than the £10m Jenkins originally estimated (even if he did so half jokingly). I think it’s fair to ask whether Naylor is worth £2.5m. He’s made 75 appearances playing in Division 2 and the Conference and made 30 appearances in the Fizzy Pop. I guess that’s a matter for Ashley, Pardew, Carr et al to evaluate based on the potential they think he has.

With the Enrique contract situation still dragging on I just hope we don’t end up exposed at left-back when the transfer window closes. Having said that, it seems that Enrique has been meeting with Pardew, Ashley and Llambias over the past few days to try and sort something out.

The other player I thought we might have had some success with in my absence is Mevlüt Erdinç but, as far as I can tell, that seems even less likely now than it did a week ago with Erdinç seemingly keen to stay in France. Apparently we have turned our attentions to Shane Long and it has been suggested that an offer of £5m plus Leon Best and/or Nile Ranger might be enough to tempt Reading to let go of the player they value at £10m.

My holiday did mean I missed the thrill of Derek Llambias confusing everyone with a statement about us having “got the players we wanted” and leaving us to figure out whether or not that means we’re finished in the transfer market this summer. Clearly the press doesn’t think so as they’re still speculating about possible Newcastle ‘targets’ but what to they know? Unless they hacked his phone of course, which I believe is all the rage in press circles just now.

Oh well, I’ll go and catch up on some more Toon news.

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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Posted on by Hugh de Payen in category: Derek Llambias and Hugh de Payen and Jose Enrique and Leon Best and Nile Ranger and NUFC gossip and speculation and Thoughts and reflections and Transfers , with tags: , , ,
Comment on this post

25 Responses

  2. Welcome back Hugh!

    If you’ve seen no news at all, wait til you see everything that’s been happening at the news of the world over the last week!

    As for news of a more black and white variety, the Enrique story is starting to get up my nose a bit now.

    He said months ago he didn’t wana decide anything til the club was safe. Well that matter was sorted a ling time ago and still he hasn’t sorted anything out.

    I’m not sure of the dates, but all reports said that the lad had been offered a nicely improved contract and that seems to have been a fair while ago now. He still hasn’t signed it, or given any indication of whether he wants to, if whether he has any interest in staying, or even whether he wants to go.

    This is something he’s had a long time to think about now, so he must know if he wants to stay or go. If he wants to stay, then I’ll be chuffed as I think he’s a top player, and he should make that clear and sign on the dotted line.

    However its often the case that when a player clams up and goes silent like this, not signing his fat nee deal etc, that its because he wants to leave. If that is the case with Enrique, then that’s fair enough with me, it really is. I just wish he’d decide one way or the other and then if he’s off, we can start to make some real moves to replace him. The worst case scenario would be if we did lose him, but he waited til right at the end if the window to go.

    So come on Jose mate, you’ve had plenty of time now. Make your mind up one way or another, and either way, we can both move on.

  4. ‘Moist’, what a terribly brilliant word.

    Have to make more effort to get on and read your stuff Hugh, I miss the brilliance. How’s tricks?

  5. funny as always.
    about neil taylor’s transfer fee i don’t think anyone can be blamed for the incredibly inflated prices that seem to be de riguer in today’s market.nonetheless i think we should up the bid slightly and land the player as i think he’d have a lot to offer.
    embarassingly the mackems have been SUPER busy buying all sorts of players.i’ve lost count.Please,Bosses In HIGH Places at the Club:i’m not asking you to go overboard.let’s just make sure at the least we can be wiser with our investments and come derby still show them monkey’s who rules the roost up here.

  6. Crikey BBM, long time no see. Hope you’re well.

    Arka, I’ve just given up trying to guess what our club will do these days. Ash is just so unpredictable.

  7. The toon are playing cute here. We “co-erce” the lad away from Swansea for a “paltry” 1,5 million. The bloke is an international, after a few years we can always sell him on for less than we paid.

    The lad needs to be convinced that Jose is leaving, cos if Jose does an about turn, and signs a new 5 year deal, then Taylor will only be a cover full back, and aint gonna see much action.

    Jose holds the key to this signing…

  8. Seems a good deal flog Jose 8-12 million then get a replacement in for less than 2M…..oh shit I forgot we will need the outstanding millions to cover his agent fees,taxi from wales,packed lunch and his wages (for the next ten years paid up front of course) :lol:
    Mike Ashley can’t wait to see the back of our decent players and replace them with cheapness.”
    I was going to say a pattern seems to be emerging…..then remembered that this has always been the pattern anyway.

  9. Time to get rid of fringe players wherever possible ie routledge and those who don`t want to stay. If this happens now gives us the chance to get replacements in. Take the initiative pardew and if Jose does`nt want to stay get rid. We`ve been caught out too many times at the end of windows when we can`t replace.

  10. Is anybody else wondering how much Scumderland’s summer transfer budget must be?,they’ve signed a lot of players,they got some of those free but not free transfers that we’ve got plus they’ve spent real money on some players aswell,judging by Derek”Smythers”Llambias they must have spent close to 80 mil by now surely.

  11. What’s the point of getting rid of fringe players apart from saving MA money.
    If players where sold and money actually spent improving the squad then fair play but this is not the case.
    There’s plenty first teamers that are at best chamionship quality that will stay here and rot players like smith,Xisco,shola,lovvenkrands,ranger etc these players are losers,hasbeen’s but they stay on board season after season while players like Jose,Carroll,Barton,Nolan and anyone of quality and value will be sold down the river.

  13. Collo new captain I go with that but I think that means Barton on his bike!

  15. Collo captain…..yeah he is a real commanding figure on the park and in the dressing room.
    He’s a total mouse.
    Love him as a player……captain no way,
    This club is just a total mess.

  16. It means Barton’s only got one year left on his contract, hardly a permanent fixture.
    Although, it could mean lambsarse is gonna kill him & sell his quiff to morrisey.

    Yea, that must be it!

    Down with murdoch!
    Maybe the ‘not the news of the world’ could hire some Toon fans?

  18. Alreet Hugh,
    hope you had a good one mate & are refreshed & ready to rumble.

    ;)

  19. You can see the club is running scared….trying to bury all the bad stuff in the media and blogs.
    Like when Milner was sold and there was like tons of player interviews,battle crys etc
    Newsnow has been on over drive last 2 days with loads of plop like Krul bigging up the new squad,ben arfa fitness,gosling fitness…blah blah

    The bad news will not be buried Mr Ashley…. Fans are waking up at last to the rubbish you are serving up as entertainment….it just isn’t good enough.

  22. we seem very thin on the right hand side of midfield , even more so know routledge is leaving,only possibility is spiderman playing out there in front of simpson, id like us to sign mcgugan seen him a couple of times and looks a prospect, , still desperate for 2 strikers though, i mean how many chances has shola had?? and is nile ranger upto filling in , i dont think so. also lovenkrands is a good pro but no way good enough in prem, these players could move on, but keep best and add 2 more good quality strikers!!! WE DO HAVE THE MONEY DONT WE ASHLEY!!!!!!!!!!

  23. IMO there is no impasse. Jose is off (just a question of where, when and how much ?) but whether Naylor is the answer is another question entirely ?

    There are many good young left backs out there (Canella at Gijon, Ansaldi at RK plus closer to home there’s Gibbs and Bertrand to name a few) but all of them will require a decent fee which we dont like doing hence the Naylor story !

  24. Actually Gibbs plus some dosh for Jose would help Fatman’s no spend policy :)

  25. With £35m. war chest Ashley is still nickel and dimeing, would’nt be surprised if that was the reason Erdinc refused to come here, probably offered him a low ball contract besides the marathon negotiation with PSG.
    Some foreign players are happy enough getting into the EPL and will accept those low ball figures in order to just get here, then hope a team that pays regular Pl wages pick them up.
    So if we the fans are aware that Ashleys a cheapskate, obviously so does every agent out there and their clients.