Barnetta or Obertan as possible Barton replacement?
Posted on August 5th, 2011 | 34 Comments |
I’m guessing that since Barry McIntosh – the guy claiming to be the UK representative of Tranquillo Barnetta – actually isn’t his representative after all, the Toon’s interest in the player is still valid.
And given that it turns out his current salary with Bayer Lederhosen is allegedly £27k/week, if we have indeed offered him a salary of £40k/week then I would guess he’d be tempted by a switch to Newcastle.
Pardew has said that he hasn’t considered replacing Barton yet, which would suggest that Barnetta is not seen as a direct replacement for him. Furthermore, Pardew seemed to intimate that Joey could still have a future at Newcastle if some judicious ‘bridge-building’ is undertaken.
I have my doubts. Or, to be blunt, I think that’s complete hogwash. I think it is most unlikely that Barton will remain at Newcastle and I reckon Ashley will try to offload him as soon as he receives any concrete interest from another club.
If Barnetta is touted as Barton’s replacement then we have a problem in that he’s injured at the moment. Apparently he picked up an injury in his last game that could see him sidelined for 3-6 weeks. I doubt that would stop negotiations to buy the player from proceeding but it would of course mean that Pardew couldn’t play him right from the off.
Given the strength of our midfield that’s probably a bearable problem anyway. In fact, with Jonas, Marveaux, Cabaye, Tiote, Gosling the most likely first-choicers for midfield (assuming Benny plays up front or in the hole) and with Guthrie, Ferguson, Raylor and Abeid as back-up, you could be forgiven for wondering where Barnetta fits in.
Another player who has recently been connected with the ‘Barton role’ at Newcastle is Gabriel Obertan, who has failed to command a starting place at Manchester United. Apparently the £3m French U21 player asked for a transfer back in February even though he still has 2 years left on his contract.
Some stories are suggesting we’d want to buy him outright and others suggest an initial loan with a view to buy at some later date is how we’d do it.
The 22 year-old usually plays on the right wing but he has in the past played in the centre and as a striker before. He began his senior career at Bordeaux, was loaned to Lorient and then transferred to Manchester United in 2009. He had 9 goals in 124 games at club level and 9 goals in 39 games for France’s U16-U21 teams.
Well, who knows?
More importantly, I wonder if we’ll manage to sign a striker before the Arsenal game.
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.
“Hogwash” isn’t quite how I’d put it, but it is a close approximation.