Barnetta deal hangs in the balance while Enrique packs his cases
Posted on August 4th, 2011 | 31 Comments |
According to The Journal, we’re already making a move to sign Tranquillo Barnetta from Bayer Leverkusen, although The Journal – in a Daily Mailish fashion – simply states this as fact rather than offering any evidence as to how they know this.
Nevertheless, it seems to be true (that we’ve made a move for him anyway) if the comments of Barnetta’s representative are anything to go by. Barnetta’s British representative Barry McIntosh said:
“As it stands there is not a hope in hell that he will be going to Newcastle. In fact I am angry at their attempts to do it, and behind my back also.
“They have made an approach, but their offer equates to somewhere in the region of £40,000-a-week – which is just ridiculous.
“Why on earth would Tranquilo move to Newcastle for less money? No offence to Newcastle, he would possibly consider going to Arsenal, Liverpool even Tottenham for less – but not Newcastle.
“They have known all along, what it would take to land Barnetta and what he is earning now, and this sort of offer really does border on ridiculous.”
Not looking too hopeful then!
It is not the first time this summer that we’ve been connected to the 26 year old winger and it’s easy to assume he would be bought as a ‘Barton replacement’. But whilst he may indeed be a replacement for Joey, I doubt that any interest in Barnetta has been ‘stepped up’ as a result of the recent Joey situation. It just doesn’t strike me as the way the club works.
The Journal claims that we may just be mere days away from getting Barnetta’s signature, which would seem at odds with McIntosh’s statement. The player has apparently previously indicated that he would not be adverse to a Newcastle move and at an alleged £4m-£5m it seems to be the sort of price Ashley would be willing to pay.
Barnetta has 37 goals in 240 league games and 8 in 59 for the Swiss national side. For anyone interested, here’s a repost of the video of Barnetta I included in a previous article:
Reports also suggest that the Jose Enrique saga may finally be coming to an end as we have supposedly agreed a £10m deal with Liverpool, which would take Kenny Dalglish’s spending to over £100m since he arrived (£45m of that would be to us if he gets Enrique!).
Presumably it will now be a priority for us to recruit a new left-back. Hopefully the club has been scouting new left-backs since Enrique started stalling on his contract towards the end of last season. It was pretty obvious them that he was destined for the exit.
Finally, just to wrap up another thing, Wayne Routledge has completed his move to Swansea City. The fee is officially ‘undisclosed’ but I think it’s reasonable to assume it was around the £2m mark.
So, just to summarize (assuming Enrique goes):
Players Out This Year:
Carroll, £35m.
Kuqi, released.
Ireland, loan ended.
Campbell, released.
Nolan, £4m.
Tozer, free.
Routledge, £2m.
Enrique, £10m.
Players In This Year:
Cabaye, £5m.
Marveaux, free.
Abeid, free.
Ba, free.
Players Potentially Yet To Leave:
Barton.
Ranger.
Xisco (FFS).
Perch.
Forster?
Best? (or is he safe now?)
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.
Its a shame that people will look at that list and think… shit, thats a loads of players out, and not incoming.
…but for these people, remember we have Gosling, Benny, Fergie etc.
I think you should put Lua Lua on the list on outgoings… he aint coming back :-( shame really. He’s a great player.