The new Enrique?Newcastle United manager Alan Pardew has allegedly been to Holland to check up on a left-back and a striker.
This week could be a busy one when it comes to transfer speculation if Alan Pardew’s aims to bring in two players before the Arsenal game are realised.
Typically, it’s the Daily Mail who get things started with speculation firstly that Jose Enrique will be leaving for Liverpool in a £5.5m pound deal and that he will be replaced with PSV Eindhoven’s Erik Pieters.
I normally treat pretty much anything I read in The Mail with doubt – not to mention scorn – but they were correct with their early speculation about Obertan, so maybe they just have their fingers on the pulse when it comes to Toon transfers just now. (more…)
Any truth to the rumours?Newcastle United are allegedly pursuing a Brazilian, Barcelona-based striker who has so far not managed to get a game for the Spanish outfit.
Rumours from the Spanish press (mainly) this weekend have us ‘interested’ in Brazilian striker Keirrison de Souza Carneiro – or just ‘Keirrison’ as he’s known to his friends.
Now, danger Will Robinson! There was initially a lot of doubt about this rumour as it was only thought to originate from ‘CaughtOffside’, but I’ve had a good browse of the Spanish press and there seems to be wider support for the rumour. Mercatofutbol writes:
Newcastle have already submitted the proposal to Barcelona and everything points to the club Barca will not oppose the sale, much less given that the young Brazilian signed in 2009 and has not played a single match with those of Guardiola(more…)
He speaketh againNewcastle United manager Alan Pardew thinks we’ll have a strong side once it settles down.
Alan Pardew may have been conspicuously silent up until the end of last week, but he’s making up for it now.
In an interview with The Sunday Sun, he has been countering his earlier, rather pessimistic statement – in which he intimated that Europe is beyond our grasp for financial reasons – with a slightly more upbeat assessment of things.
When asked about where he thinks we’ll finish this season, he said:
“To be honest I’m not going down that line until such time as I see one or two players coming in. Our expectations I will gladly give you on August 31.
“We need one or two in for the squad to say ‘Hello, we’ve got all this and now we’ve got these as well’.”
Eh? Not really sure I understand that last bit, although it’s a cracking quote that had me spluttering Earl Grey for a while. Still, never mind, I’ll look forward to his estimate of our expectations on August 31st (I wonder if he fancies entering our Prediction Competition … I might email him). (more…)
Club needs to wipe its noseObertan transfer to Newcastle United confirmed by Pardew, Valencia interest in Coloccini and Pardew intimates that European football may be beyond us.
It looks like the alleged interest in Gabriel Obertan I reported yesterday is indeed true and the deal should be finalised next week sometime. Alan Pardew confirmed it himself, saying:
“All being well, the deal will be pushed through next week. He’s not really had the chance to shine at Old Trafford but he has pace to burn and will bring some much needed sharpness to our side.”
Can’t say I know much about the player beyond what I’ve researched for articles on this ‘blog, but I hope he does indeed shine at Newcastle and I wish him the best of luck.
According to Fabricio Coloccini‘s agent Fernando Lombilla, Valencia are very interested in the player. Lombilla said:
“Valencia are insisting on signing Coloccini, but Newcastle have just named him captain, which is something that hasn’t happened before.
“So it’s very complicated. They love him in England and he even has a song they sing about him, which lasts a few minutes.(more…)
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. (more…)
