Safe. For now at least?Newcastle United striker Demba Ba’s release clause has caused quite a stir but this writer tends to think it’s a storm in a tea cup, at least as far as the January transfer window is concerned.
On the back of my esteemed colleague’s recent posts regarding Demba Ba’s release clause and his PSG ambitions, it seems that clubs are queueing up to buy him. Or at least it looks that way if press reports are to be believed.
The release clause in his contract is either £10m, £7m, £5m or “less than £5m” depending upon which report you believe and how much creedence you give to Harry Redknapp’s comments.
Liverpool lead the suitors, which is probably no surprise given their proclivity for buying from Newcastle and in particular buying strikers from us in the January transfer window. Spurs are supposedly interested too and apparently Sunderland, Everton and QPR have had their interest piqued by the release clause’s alleged low value. You can see why when there’s seemingly an option to pick up a 15 goal (in half a season) striker for peanuts.
However, it’s worth remembering that all a release clause does is that it forces the selling the club to allow the player to enter into negotiations with the buying club once the fee in the release clause is met. The player can’t be forced to move against his will and there’s nothing to stop the selling club from trying to renegotiate some sort of contract to keep the player. (more…)
Carved out his niche?Newcastle United manager Alan Pardew has baffled fans for a lot of the season by not playing Hatem Ben Arfa, but Pardew has now explained his reasoning and how Benny’s work on Saturday may just have earned him the free attacking role he craves.
Until recently, Alan Pardew has seemed reluctant to start with Hatem Ben Arfa, much to the frustration of the player himself who had a few choice words to say about Alan Pardew’s tactics last week.
However, in a recent interview in the Journal, Pardew has explained how he sees the Ben Arfa situation developing on the pitch. Talking about the weekend’s game at Blackburn, Pardew said:
“It’s all about balance. His work-rate was quite good, it’s just sometimes intensity that’s the difference. It didn’t help in the first half that Mehdi stepped off a little bit and was a little bit too deep and therefore that didn’t help Hatem either. It all sort of combined.
“I was really pleased with his attitude when he went on to the right. He could have gone, ‘What am I doing out here?’ but he attacked the position. That’s really pleasing.
“I knew if we got the ball to his feet he was going to cause the full-backs a problem.“
Is another Ba the highest priority?Newcastle United are set lose Demba Ba to the Africa Cup of Nations soon, yet it seems the club is concentrating more on strengthening the team in defence rather than attack. Is this the right decision?
Much was rumoured recently about us not being in for a striker this January after the Maiga deal fell through but, with Demba Ba due to leave for the African Cup of Nations very soon, how will we cope?
When Pardew was asked recently if we can cope without Ba and Tiote, he said:
“Obviously, I am hoping so, but they are two massive players. You take a huge figure out of one of the other teams and it’s significant. If you took Rooney out of Manchester United, probably they wouldn’t look the same for seven games, so you have to accept that.
“Having said that, we have got players who are champing at the bit. Hatem Ben Arfa wants a chance, Leon Best wants to show what he showed last year, Peter Lovenkrands will be eager to throw his hat in the ring, so we have still got great players in the club and we hope that we can keep the momentum and the form going.
“We have just approached one game at a time, but we have got to the halfway stage in seventh place and that’s significant. It can only arm us with confidence to go forward.“
Better than Sports Direct anywayVirgin Money takes over where Northern Rock left off and sponsors Newcastle United’s shirts for the next two and a half seasons.
As you could no doubt tell by the shirts the team wore last night, Newcastle United have brokered a deal with Virgin Money until the end of the 2013/2014 season. Last night Derek Llambias said:
“We’re delighted to secure this new deal with Virgin Money and we look forward to enjoying a mutually beneficial partnership over the coming seasons. It is an excellent deal for both parties and we’re very happy to have them on board.“
He didn’t add anything about how ‘f****** horrible’ he can be this time.
Virgin, for their part, said:
“Now that Virgin Money and Northern Rock are united as one business, it gives us great pleasure to continue the shirt sponsorship of Newcastle United Football Club.
“The Northern Rock sponsorship started in 2003 and it is an important link to the North East which we are pleased to continue.
Cabaye and Ba get a goal a piece.A goal from Demba Ba, a free kick from Yohan Cabaye and – to add to Man Utd’s misery – an own goal by Phil Jones sees Newcastle United take all three points at St James’ Park.
The match started at a lively pace and it was pretty much box-to-box stuff for the first half.
The first decent chance fell to us on about 4 minutes when Simpson put in an excellent cross along the ground to Demba Ba, who was right in front of goal. Unfortunately it was slightly behind him and he couldn’t gather it for a shot.
Just over a minute later, Cabaye tested Anders Lindegaard after Ba nodded the ball down to him just outside the box. Unfortunately it was straight at the keeper and turned out to be an easy save.
Man Utd came close after 14 minutes though when a Berbatov header took a deflection and bounced off the post.
After 19 minutes an accidental handball by Cabaye led to a Man United free kick in a dangerous area. Fortunately Rooney’s free kick deflected off Tiote for a corner, which itself came to nothing.
