Maiga pursuit not dead yet
Posted on August 23rd, 2011 | 12 Comments |
There have been many twists and turns with this Mobida Maiga debacle and there’ll probably be few more before it has finished.
Yesterday it was reported that the striker may have ‘faked’ a knee injury to avoid playing in the next game but Maiga and Kevin Anin – another player seeking an exit (to Arsenal) and who was allegedly ‘injured’ – are both now back with the squad. Sochaux coach Mecha Bazdarevic had this to say:
“It happens to be bullshit.”
Although whether that’s in relation to the players’ actual injury claims, the press reports about those claims or one of Alan Pardew’s speeches is unclear.
Bazdarevic goes on to tell L’Equipe:
“We had a very good exchange. They said they were injured, but are now better and that I could count on them.“
A separate report says that an offer of €8m (£7m) is on the table but that Sochaux will not listen to anything below €11.5m (£10m), although the suggestion that they’d listen to any offer at all goes against Bazdarevic’s previous insistence that they are simply not for sale. Then again, from our own experiences with Andy Carroll’s transfer to Liverpool we know that every player has their price.
Bazdarevic seems like no nonsense, grouchy sort of guy who I find myself warming to despite him being on the other end of our striker search at the moment. I think he’s just trying to keep Sochaux competitive in front of goal after losing striker Brown Ideye to Dynamo Kiev earlier in the transfer window.
Anyway it seems that – at least according to the French press – our pursuit of Maiga is not yet dead in the water, although personally I think it’s sunk if they try to squeeze £10m out of Ashley for him.
Maybe, in fact, he isn’t worth £10m anyway.
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.
I reckon it’s a claim about not one but many of Pardew’s speeches!
On a more serious note I’m unsure whether we should meet the 10 million valuation for a player who has had one good season for Sochaux. Don’t think Ashley will stretch to that anyway but I can see this one going right to deadline day.