Archive for category: Xisco.

Xisco medical at Deportivo tomorrow?

January 30th, 2011 | 32 Comments |

Xisco: Deportivo bound?
Xisco: Deportivo bound?
While most attention has been focused on the alleged medical of Stephen Ireland on Tyneside today, news has come in from the official website of Deportivo de La Coruña that the forgotten man of the Newcastle United frontline, Xisco, will be returning to his old club for a medical on tomorrow morning (Monday).

Though my Spanish is a little rusty to say the least, the article on the Deportivo site says something like:

“Sand and Xisco to have a medical exam tomorrow with the Sports Sunday 30/01/2011 15:19, canaldeportivo, TO Coruña

“The Argentine forward, Jose Sand, and the also Spanish ram, Xisco, hope to arrive this afternoon TO Coruña.

“Tomorrow, Monday 31 of January, both footballers will have a medical exam first thing in the morning at the Medical Services of the Royal Sports Club.” (more…)


Spurs allegedly still after Carroll but Boro not after Xisco

January 29th, 2011 | 77 Comments |

Andy Carroll, Newcastle United
Not for sale FFS
It seems that Spurs can’t take no for an answer as they launch a last gasp £25m bid for Newcastle United’s Andy Carroll.

When Alan Pardew said “I will say this one more time – Andy Carroll is not for sale” it seems that Spurs Chairman Daniel Levy wasn’t listening because, if reports in The Sun are to be believed, Levy has lodged a new £25m bid for Carroll directly with Mike Ashley.

Of course anything that contains the phrase ‘if reports in The Sun are to be believed’ should be treated with the same sort of caution you’d show if a psychistrist asked you to slip into a pair of wraparound pyjamas for ‘fashion reasons’. But you never know, maybe The Sun is correct. We know Harry Redknapp is keen on Carroll – I suppose it’s a matter of whether or not he’s keen enough to persuade his Chairman to fork out £25m for him. (more…)


What is Nile Ranger’s first team future?

January 18th, 2011 | 42 Comments |

Nile Ranger, Newcastle United
First team future?
Nile Ranger scored a hat-trick for the reserves yesterday, but where does he stand in the pecking order of Newcastle United strikers?

I can’t help but think that Ranger is sliding down the list of strikers as far as Alan Pardew is concerned.

Given that Andy Carroll is our number one striker, it seems that Shola Ameobi, Peter Lovenkrands and Leon Best are all likely to be picked ahead of Ranger, with Best’s ranking undoubtedly helped by his hat-trick against West Ham.

And what about Xisco? We paid £5.7m for him and I can’t remember seeing him since he came on as a sub during the 6-0 thrashing of Villa. I suspect that Ranger is at least ahead of him in the pecking order.

But it may even be worse than that for Ranger because there’s always the option of pushing someone like Nolan or Ben Arfa up to support a striker, which could drop Ranger even further down the list.

And then of course there’s the rumours that we might be looking to sign another striker.

So where does this leave Nile Ranger in terms of his first team status? (more…)


Best and Xisco – The surprise packages of pre-season so far.

August 2nd, 2010 | 176 Comments |

2 goals in 3 game for Leon Best.
2 goals in 3 game for Leon Best.
Rather than bore you with an individual article concerning how both Leon Best and Xisco are doing, I thought it would be nice to combine the two together instead.

After all, they are two players who appeared to be following the same career path at Newcastle, and they still might, but what they have both done this pre-season is come back fighting for their lives. Not their real lives, but their lives as Newcastle players.

Now I know that they would only have been sold if the manager, Chris Hughton, didn’t want either at them at the club, but both players had become targets for the boo boys at Newcastle. Since they arrived back for pre-season training, with a hell of a lot to prove I might add, they have both been surprisingly good. We have Leon Best who has now scored two goals in three games, then we have Xisco who definately looked like he had a point to prove against PSV on Saturday when he came on. (more…)


Can Xisco prove his worth at Newcastle?

July 27th, 2010 | 128 Comments |

Xisco - Now drinking in the last chance saloon?
Xisco - Now drinking in the last chance saloon?
Spanish striker Xisco is back on Tyneside, and back in the black and white stripes, which has come as a surprise really as most fans expected him to be shoved out the back door over the summer.

It’s a match made from necessity rather than perhaps a match made in heaven, but now he is back from his season-long exile in Spain, can he make a good fist of it in the North East this season and prove his worth to Newcastle?

The former Spanish under-21 international played in last weekends pre-season friendly at Norwich and impressed despite the defeat.

Having said that, it’s easy to impress when there are no expectations I guess. He did give Shola Ameobi a massive hand for what was our equalising goal, and he played on the right hand side of midfield, something he is happy to do in the forthcoming season for Newcastle United. In fact he says he would be happy to play anywhere for Newcastle. (more…)