Obertan to join Toon on Monday, allegedly – undiscovered talent or offloaded dud?

Posted on August 6th, 2011 | 54 Comments |

Gabriel Obertan allegedly joining Newcastle United in £3m deal.
Delight or dud?
According to some press reports a deal has been struck which will bring Gabrial Obertan to Newcastle United

Yesterday I reported the Toon’s alleged interest in Gabriel Obertan and if today’s Daily Mail is to be believed the transfer is all but completed.

The Mail are saying that personal terms have been agreed and we have signed Obertan on a five-year deal for £3m. Apparently the player will be with us on Monday.

There’s nothing official yet from the club and the report of Obertan’s transfer seems to have started and ended with The Mail, so I have no idea how reliable it is.

If the report is true, what we’ll have signed is a 6ft 1in 22 year-old Frenchman who has struggled to make a name for himself at Man Utd since being taken then from Bordeaux in July 2009. Some reports are suggesting Obertan joined Man Utd on a free whilst others say they paid around £3m for him themselves.

A product of France’s Clairefontaine academy, Obertan has been consistently included in the French U16, U17, U18, U19 and U21 squads but has not yet been picked for France’s senior international squad, which is hardly surprising given that he only has 14 league games – and 28 games in total – to his name for Man Utd since joining in 2009.

I’m hoping it’s the case that Graham Carr, Alan Pardew and Co have identified a talent that has not yet been given an opportunity to flourish rather than Man Utd offloading a dud to us for £3m.

Obertan’s Frenchness certainly fits with our pattern of recruitment this summer and he should find himself settling in easily enough given the Gallic quotient of our current squad.

He mainly plays as a winger but can apparently also play in the centre of midfield or as a striker, which is the sort of versatility that might give him the best chance of securing a place in our own crowded midfield.

Barton replacement? Well, who knows?

I think it’s fair to say that most fans are more interested in how we’ll replace Enrique and who, if anyone, will be the striker we’re allegedly after, but let’s give Obertan a chance to prove himself and – assuming the Mail’s report is true – welcome him to St James’ Park.

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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Comment on this post

54 Responses

  1. could be a good signing for Newcastle as he has talent and had a few spells where he showed it. if he got a regular starting place then it would do him good

  2. What I’ve seen of him when he’s played for manure he loves to run at players and has a great engine. Could be a great signing if true. Just need a striker but who? It seems to have gone quiet on Erdinc

  3. Is it time we now replace or add ‘Local Hero’ with ‘All You Need Is Love’ by the Beatles as it starts with the ‘La Marseillaise’ ?

  4. Looks good, albeit it’s only youtube but with a bunch of French mates around him he may blossom:

  6. It seems alot of man utd supporters don’t wanthim to leave . On their blogs they are all saying he is having a great pre season setting up and scoring goals. Seems like hè would be a great replacement for routlidge.

  7. This makes sense as Pardew said he had been on the phone to Ferguson talking about Twitter.. why would he had called Ferguson unless to trying to bring a player in. 3m is a good price.. good luck to the lad. Come on la Toon!

  10. I watched this guy for Bordeaux once or twice and he really did look a very good player. He has looked good on occasion for man u as well if a little inconsistent.

    However I really think that inconsistency is down to nothing more than not getting a regular game and once he’s had some proper match time under his belt and has regained some of the sharpness that only cones with playing week in week out, that he will be a very very good player for us.

    If he is from clairefontaine as well then that can only be a good thing as HBA graduated from there so maybe their play will be familiar to one another already, or at least as much as it can be for two guys who don’t play together.

    And I can’t see him costing very much on the wage bill either!

  11. aye them days are long gone when we were competing with man u for the alan shearer’s of this world – now we’re happy handing over a few quid for their cast offs.

    but hey we gotta cut our cloth accordinly – apparently we’re skint.

  13. he has a good driving run on him, but i’ve not always been blown away by his appearences – however, it must be hard when ur not getting regular games.

    He’d be a great player to have in the squad – and i hope he comes…

    …but for gods sake, lets get a striker and LB ASAP!

    anyone know where to watch the 3pm KO today…other than SJP?

  14. You’ve got yourselves a good player if the reports are true. He’s struggled a little bit for a first team spot at MUFC, but a lot of it is down to him not getting a long enough run in the side to show what he can do. Give him a starting spot on either wing, and once he’s built his confidence up I think you’ll see how good he is. He’s that tricky that he sometimes looks like even he doesn’t know what his feet are going to do next.

  15. Well if nowt else it boosts the squad! At least it looks like a serious rumour rather than some of the comedy ones we have been seeing.

    Well done Hugh, I’ll say congrats proper when you hit 450, just don’t do an Ed to get there. ;)

  16. If we get him for 3m, it will be a snippet of what he is potentially worth. I can see him being better than a certain james milner was for us.

  19. Any hints anywhere as too the teams (both) for the game. Couldn’t see anything on NewsNow?

  20. Great deal ? yeah for Fergie, unloads another one who did’nt make the grade and even gets his money back.
    Afraid it’s about what we could expect from tight ass!
    Gonna prove to the football world he has found the answer to running a club on next to nothing and making a profit.
    Fact is this guy is no better than Routledge.
    Interested in seeing who we bring in if anyone to replace Jose, i know it was originally Taylor, which they were quick to deny, and they lost him by being too cheap.
    Lets see what they have to say later in the season, when asses get tight at the possibility of relegation, even by around the holidays, there could be some serious panic buying.
    Hey you buy cheap players, you get a second rate team, simple as that.

  21. @20 – chuck

    Honestly I don’t know how you haven’t landed Graham Carrs job mate.

  22. Just read the above comments and ROY CROPPER you and i are the only realists on this blog, everyone else just hopeing and fantasising.
    “We live in hope and die in despair”, that should be this clubs new mantra.
    Or “we buy cheap and sell at a profit” (sometimes that is, apparently not in Joey’s case)
    Keep on tweeting!

  24. Kamar #4

    Perhaps we could also get a Guillotine installed at the side of the pitch as a warning against lacklustre/shite performances.

  25. JAP
    Cant afford me mate, that and maybe the fact i might reccomend someone over 25 who costs over £1m.

  27. @25 lmfao

    nice one. seriously though ive watched 1 youtube vidf on him just like club. hes great.. :D

  28. in 3 years he could be as good as ronaldo, although i have concerns about his pace. he’s tricky but i havent seen anything electric about him

  29. Obertan was amazing on football manager a few years ago when he was at Bordeaux. wonderkid i believe. must be good…..

  30. Chuck whilst I perennialy sit on the optimists fence for some strange freudian personnel quirk, I do agree with the Routledge comment.

    As for useless ManU cast offs, Simpson is starting to look like a good buy, I believe most bloggers seem to agree on this.

    Lets see if you name any other ManU cast offs we have signed who were a waste of space, Oh hang on!!!

  32. typical mike ashley signing,no thought has went into it,other than he cannot get a game for his club.he also comes relatively cheap which suits this rank amateur regime,down to the ground.another pathetic attempt by ashley and co to try and appease the fans.

  33. Twitter
    So now that the NUFC squad have been informed by the club, they could be in violation of club rules if they use the service and subsequently fined.
    Does that include tweets unrelated to the club, or tweets diguised as other than outright criticisms ?
    Where does one draw the line and who would decide, could it go to an arbtration panel consisting of both club and PFA representatives, the courts?
    Apparently NUFC and of course both Joey & Jose have opened a Pandoras box of questions here, which relate’s directly to freedom of speech, though most clubs and reactionary fans appear to believe that not to be the case.
    Believing that the club has the right to remain free of criticism , whether justifiable or not.
    These same people would have probably objected to George Eastham’s forced transfer from a reluctant NUFC in the sixties and Bosmans right to free agency more recently.
    The PFA are in the early stages of looking at the situation and appear to be in favor of the use of Twitter, believing it to have possibilities as a positive means of communication and crtainly not in favor of a blanket ban on it’s use.
    Well we shall see where it goes, it’s obvious there are major repercussions to come out of this controversy, which if not given guidelines from those powers that be
    PFA, league, etc. could easily end up in the courts.
    Keep on tweeting!

  35. Grumpy
    That made me laugh mate!
    Keep on twittering!
    Well gotta go fishing, catch y’all later !

  37. well on a happier note i’ve just polished off a double helping of cheesie chips & the pissing rain has stopped – so i’m off to my local to put a hole in one of their kegs.

    oh the good life – see ya!

  39. He’s obviously got great skills but i’m reserving judgement on how this 1 will turn out.

  40. Some nufc fans are an absolute disgrace. Let’s face tacts shall we? We are currently paying the financial price for the sins of previous owners. They paid too much for utter shite. But that was ok.

    Now we have two seasons of progress where we don’t pay crazy fees, but all people can do is complain! As long as we keep taking steps forward, i don’t care how much we pay for players and even how much Ashley puts in his pocket.

  42. p-man

    u gotta look at this 2 ways. what you are saying is right about how much we spend doesnt make a difference as long as the club moves forward. however u dont want to see fatman putting money into his pocket. im all for the club cutting back on spending in order to balance the books and make us finiancially stronger but not to the benefit of MA. they go about running the club all wrong imo and should be more up front with what they do. end of the day none of us run the club but it would be nice to be in the loop sometimes.

  44. At APT: i guess you’re right. But i really can’t stand and all this negatvity. I mean it’s totally OTT. I understand when we got relegated it was a low point. But since then we got promoted first time of asking. THEN we survived in the Prem and ultimately quite comfortably. We’ve also unearthed some decent players. Sometimes I wonder what we could achieve if more fans did their job and supported the team. Maybe the red cross should drop a few crates of prozac on a full St james.

  45. p-man

    dont forget alot of fans think newcastle should still be challenging for the title and playing CL football every season. not goin to happen for a while…

    i dont like the way the club is run and i think its every supporters right to say what they think but i do agree that there is no need for some of the negatity that some fans show as alot of it is just slagging off the board with no substance. alot of fans still want the “marquee” signing. im quite happy to unearth (quote JB) “younger better cheaper players” roll on the new season

  46. P-Man and APT.

    Negativity (as you call it) abounds because the vast majority of fans now know that this Board is capable of lying and deceiving on a regular basis.

    So when we read “Pardwho is after a world class forward” we translate that to “Fatman says we’re bringing in my brother in laws nephew as he’s just left school and cant find a job”.

    BTW Obertan is shlte.

    “It’s difficult to make a strong case for keeping Obertan, who’s done very little to convince anyone he really is United material.”

    “Laurent Blanc once said of Obertan that he must “overcome psychological and mental challenges if he is to express his true value”. So I think it’s all in his mind. He lacks the confidence. With every game, he grows convinced that he couldn’t make the grade”

    and finally…..

    “Gabriel Obertan , is arguably about as popular with United fans as Imogen Thomas” :)

    He’s not related to Fatman by any chance ?

  47. @P-man

    People don’t like being lied to and whatever way the people in charge try to spin the spending of the £35 million (it’s gone on agent fees, undersoil heating, pencils for the office etc), it feels like they were dishonest when they said the £35 million would all be reinvested back into the team. It’s bizarre that they say they are saying they need to save some for January when it’s obvious there are areas of the team that are clearly in need of strengthening now. The idea that we are waiting to sell Enrique to buy a replacemet when we need a new left back even if he stays being 1 example.

    Maybe they will prove us wrong but it’s hard to put much faith in the current owners.

    I don’t want the team to spend for the sake of it… Nobby Solano cost about £3 million while AlbertLuque cost almost £10 million and it’s obvious who was the far better player. Sometimes you can get a bargain but sometimes you need to spend.

    At the moment it doesn’t feel like the club is just trying to be prudent by spending money carefully. It feels like the club will do anything possible to spend as little as possible with finances being put 100% ahead of the teams strength.

    We’ve got some really good players at the team right now and with just a little bit more ambition I believe we could get much better results.

  48. Paulos says:

    “We’ve got some really good players at the team right now and with just a little bit more ambition I believe we could get much better results”

    You can have nine really great players in your team but if the front two arent capable of putting the ball in the net then its a waste of effort.

    A quality striker should have been the Number 1 priority at the end of last season but I’m almost sure that Fatman thinks that Ba is enough :(

  49. alrite lads?!?

    things really are troublesome eh?

    what a time to be alive,il be sure to tell the grandkids of this great era of nufc history

    anyways got 2 nufc match worns for sale

    1/enrique 10-11 home
    2/ harper 11-12 pre season new goalie shirt also signed

    get me at darcyclay1@sky.com hwtl

  50. Probably a mixture of both in the sense that he is a dud for Man Utd not being good enough for a top 4 side but could be a talent for a team with aspirations of breaking top 8.

  51. Looks like Ryan Babbel MkII to me. Fast, athletic, has some tricks but never quite in control.

  52. No,
    wrong!
    If you want ashley to ship out quick style, then you DO want him putting money in his pocket, to pay back what he’s put in.
    The quicker that happens, the quicker he can leave, surely?

    Get ya’ f***ing story straight ffs.

    :)

  54. Whenever I saw Obertan playing for Manchester United, he always looked good, someone who might rise and get a regular place in the first team one day. However with Manchester United offloading him on to Newcastle, I have a paranoid Newcastle supporter’s feeling that there’s probably a catch somewhere, and he’s now another Alan Smith or somesuch. :-)