Vacancy: apply withinNewcastle United are still in the hunt for a striker 6 months after the sale of Andy Carroll. And now they need a left-back too. So just why is it taking so long to recruit new players?
What, you might ask, is the problem? We’ve had six months to replace Andy Carroll and still haven’t, unless you happen to believe that Demba Ba’s that man. And, although Enrique’s actual departure is relatively recent, we’ve pretty much known he’d go for a few months now (the clue was in his refusal to sign a contract), yet we haven’t got a replacement for him either.
Let’s allow some leeway with Enrique. He has only just been sold and we must surely know by now that players don’t come in unless Ashley’s 100% sure he’s getting the dosh for the outgoing player. It might not be a proactive way to run a football club but we seem to be stuck with it.
Some might argue that selling Carroll so late in the January transfer window left us no time to bring in a replacement, which is true. And let’s even be generous and say that £35m was too good to refuse and that it was actually worth limping through the second half of last season without a first choice striker. Surely, though, in the months after the Carroll sale we should have had plenty of striker targets lined up, ready to make bids for them as soon as the transfer window opened.
New keeper at the ToonNewcastle United sign a new goalkeeper after loaning Forster out to Celtic.
It appears we have actually signed a new goalkeeper. Or are about to, depending upon which newspaper you read. There isn’t yet any official confirmation from Newcastle United but I get the impression this is a done deal.
The keeper in question comes in the shape of Rob Elliot, who currently plays for Charlton Athletic. He’s actually played for them since 2004 but was loaned out between 2004 and 2007 to, variously, Bishop’s Stortford, Notts County and Accrington Stanley.
Scaling Elliot would take a 6ft 3in rope, he’s 23 years old and has just over 140 league appearances to his name.
Apparently Ben Hamer has been handed the number 1 shirt at Charlton this season and a lot of Charlton fans expected a possible exit for Elliot.
There have been no reports of a fee yet but he was contracted with Charlton until 2012 so I presume there was one, although I can’t imagine it was much. (more…)
Scotland boundCeltic reach an agreement to take Newcastle United keeper Fraser Forster and Toon wannabe Maiga speaks up about his omission from Sochaux’s European squad.
Celtic claim to have reached an agreement to take Fraser Forster off our hands. Apparently it’s along the lines of a season-long loan with some sort of option to buy the player after that.
Celtic manager Niel Lennon said:
“A deal has been agreed. There are a few little snags to overcome but we hope to have him registered in time for tomorrow night.
“If that is the eventuality of things, we would be absolutely delighted. He has been the main target since the end of last season.
“We did put a bid in but it was knocked back but we worked hard in the background to try to bring him in so I’m very, very pleased.”
Forster was loaned to Celtic last season and broke the club’s clean sheets record while he was there and was also quite good in goal. Forster had previously expressed a desire to return to Celtic this season although Alan Pardew was keen to see how he measured up against Krul and Harper between the sticks during pre-season before letting him go. (more…)
Somehow I doubt itNewcastle United are allegedly considering a move to take Wayne Bridge on loan if they fail in their attempts to sign Erik Pieters.
This is one from the Daily Mail. They claim we’d consider paying £80k/week to bring Wayne Bridge to Newcastle on a season long loan if we don’t manage to sign Erik Pieters.
Personally, I think that’s poppycock and the Mail doesn’t even attempt to justify its claims in any way whatsoever. It merely states that we will ‘consider a fresh move’ for the player if all else fails.
I rather suspect such ‘consideration’ will amount to about 2 minutes of side-splitting laughter from board room at St James’ Park. Manchester City are apparently not keen to pay any of Bridge’s wages if he goes out on loan and there are even rumours that they want £2m up front merely for the privilege of loaning a player from them.
I really can’t see any of this appealing to Ashley’s methods of running a football club. And rightly so in this case. We need to ‘build’ a team for the seasons ahead rather than just plug holes in it for the short term. (more…)
Punished ... still a possibility?Newcastle United target Modibo Maiga is punished by Sochaux for refusing to play in last weekend’s match.
As I mentioned yesterday, Sochaux were looking to punish Modibo Maiga for refusing to play against Caen last weekend in an attempt to force a move to Newcastle.
Well they have punished him by leaving him out of the squad for the Europa League match against Metalist Kharkiv tomorrow night.
Sochaux’s assistant coach Stéphane Gilli said:
“The staff made the decision not to bring him to the Ukraine. We need him, but there are things you can not let pass. There are other players who will be there. And FC Sochaux will prevail – the club is more than just Bazdarevic, Maiga or Boudebouz.”
Isn’t that a bit like punishing an on-strike member of BA’s cabin crew by giving them a day off? Although I suppose any player worth their salt would want to be playing in European competition, even if it is only the Europa League. (more…)
