De Jong: Wants Gladbach and Champions League football.Newcastle United striking target, Luuk de Jong, has discounted the idea of joining Europa League Newcastle United, telling German tabloid, “Bild” that he only wants a move to Champions League German side, Borussia Mönchengladbach.
Having written that, it was for German consumption in a German publication, though it certainly looks as if Newcastle’s plans for the striker are all but dead in the water now, especially with the club being now notoriously unwilling to meet the true valuation of players in terms of both fees and wage terms when the club is in the market for a player.
The Dutch hitman told Bild of his discussions with Gladbach’s coach, Lucien Favre, saying:
“I have spoken to Favre several times.”
“We talked about how he wanted me to play. I’m sure the way he wants to play fits perfectly with the fast pace that suits me.(more…)
Up for grabs this week!Welcome to the second and final part of our latest competition to win a 16″ x 12″ signed photo of Papiss Cisse, and a 12″ x 8″ signed photo of Hatem Ben Arfa. Both are genuine, hand signed photos signed by the players themselves and would look great on any Toon fan’s wall!
Before we get to the second set of questions, the first part is here, but I will also repeat the first questions below, as well as rules of the competition.
Please note! Someone entered the answers for the first three questions on Papiss Cisse in the comments section of the last post (though one was actually incorrect, I won’t say which one!) so I’ve added another. Before I get to the second part (on Hatem Ben Arfa) here are the first four questions again. (more…)
Up for grabs this week!Welcome to the latest in our series of NUFC Blog close season competitions.
This time the first prize is a signed 16″ x 12″ glossy photo of Papiss Cisse, hand signed with a marker pen by the hitman himself! The second prize is a 12″ x 8″ photo of Hatem Ben Arfa after he scored his wondergoal against Bolton, once again, hand signed by the Gallic wing wizard.
Instructions and the first set of questions
As with our other competitions, this is only open to registered users of the site for security reasons (we wouldn’t want anyone else nicking your prize!), but if you aren’t yet a registered member, never fear, it only takes seconds to join! Just click on the “Register” link in the login section of the site (right hand side) and follow the instructions from there.
Then, all you have to do is answer the questions below and the ones in the next competition post (tomorrow) and when you’ve done this, simply post the answers to us along with your username on the site using our contact page.
So, without further ado, here are the first round of questions!(more…)
Santon: Roma rebuffed and intrigue over right back slot.Davide Santon has given an “exclusive” interview for Italian football site, “Calciomercato” (football market) which was published yesterday. In it, he lifts the lid on rumours linking him with Rome, as well as a making some telling remarks about Alan Pardew’s plans for the right back position amongst other things.
Firstly though, he spoke about his disappointment at missing out on a place in the Italian side for the recent European Championships in Poland and the Ukraine. After mentioning that Santon had returned to the command of Alan Pardew “to toil under the pale English sun” (very pale in the case of Tyneside), the interviewer, Marco Guidi, suggested that Santon would have gladly given up his holidays to join the Azzurri for the championships. Santon replied:
“It would have been great. But it wasn’t to be. Prandelli (Italy coach, Cesare Prandelli) has made his choices and I have limited myself to cheering for the Blues in front of the TV. They had a great tournament until the final. We must say that Spain is very strong and when we were down to 10 it was almost impossible to get a result.” (more…)
Debuchy and Simpson: Horses for courses.With Newcastle United being strongly linked with Lille’s and France’s right back, Mathieu Debuchy, I thought it might be a good idea to make a comparison between the player and our existing first choice right back, Danny Simpson, who had a very good season overall with the Magpies, indeed, he was statistically the best right back in the Premiership of 2011-12 according to the “Premiership Index”.
I will be drawing on their relative statistics from last year, as well as my own experiences from what I have seen of Debuchy. Though it may seem somewhat unfair to compare the statistics of a player who played in France’s Ligue 1 to someone who played in the Premiership, nonetheless, on inspection it gives us a fair indication of the different discernable characteristics the two players, and what Debuchy might bring to the club on the right hand side of defence. (more…)
