Steve Stone: Newcastle looking for young players with quality and pace.
Posted on July 1st, 2011 | 39 Comments |
Speaking to the club’s official website at the annual NUFC Heroes Golf Day at Ponteland Golf Club, Stone began by saying he thought that it was great that Newcastle United had hit the ground running as the club’s transfer season got underway with the signing of players such as Yohan Cabaye, Demba Ba and Sylavain Marveaux, as well as youngster, Mehdi Abeid. Getting in with some early signings is, once again, something that some have criticised the club as failing to do in recent windows. On this, Stone said:
“I think it’s great that we’ve made some moves in the transfer market, I think it’s important that you do it quite early and that’s what we’ve done.
“We had the money from the sale of Andy Carroll in January so we knew we had that money and we’ve had our targets for some time now.
“We’ve been able to look since January and have our scouts out there. Graham Carr has done a great job with (Hatem) Ben Arfa and (Cheik) Tiote before that and we’re starting to go down that road, that avenue.”
Stone then revealed the qualities the club are looking for as they seek potential targets to bring into the squad, continuing:
“We’re looking at 23, 24-year-old players who can bring a bit of pace to our team and I’m pleased with what we’ve brought in so far.
“We’ve got three players with quality, who we can build the team around over the next few years.”
The ex England player then turned his attention to the start of pre-season on Monday, a chance for the new signings to bond with the existing squad:
“When we start on Monday, we do all the testing and they get to meet everybody at the same sort of time. It’s not like having new faces come in dribs and drabs, which can be difficult.
“Everybody will turn up on the first day of training and they’re part of it.
Referring to the sides upcoming tour of the United States, where The Magpies will face Sporting Kansas City, Orlando City and Columbus Crew in three friendlies, Stone then concluded:
“They get to come to America with us two weeks later and that’s important because they’ll get to spend some quality but intense time with coaches, staff and team-mates.”
Here’s hoping the things go well, and that all the lads are ready for the season to come.
He’s a good lad SS, pity he never got to play for us.
More players please!