All is forgiven by LeedsNewcastle United midfielder Alan Smith is a potential target for Leeds United.
Many an argument has ensued in recent weeks about whether or not we should be getting rid of the older, more experienced players but I tend to think the majority of Toon fans feel that Alan Smith has outstayed his usefulness at the club.
He had a decent season with us the one before last when we got promotion back to the Premier League – and is rarely short on effort – but has found himself increasingly sidelined by the likes of Tiote this season.
It hasn’t helped his chances that he has suffered with an ankle injury for a lot of the second half of this season, although I’m not sure his chances would have been all that prolific anyway.
Leeds, however, seem to be interested in Smith now that he has allegedly been transfer-listed by Newcastle. The former Leeds ‘Player of the Year’ became something of an icon at his home town club but left under a bit of a cloud for Man Utd when Leeds got relegated, leading some fans to bear a grudge and brand him a ‘Judas’. (more…)
Consecrated midfielder Ryad BoudebouzRyad Boudebouz, the Algerian attacking midfielder, is once again being linked to Newcastle United by the foreign press.
Reports from the Italian press are suggesting that Ryad Boudebouz fancies a move to the English Premier League and Newcastle and Liverpool are said to be the two clubs after his signature.
I reported our potential interest in the player in a previous post back in early June. It was highly speculative then and remains so now.
Now I don’t speak Italian for religious reasons, so all I could do is run it through Google Translate and this, word for word, is what it came up with:
The future of Ryad Boudebouz (21) could be in England. The Algerian gem, owned by Sochaux, love it at Newcastle and Liverpool, with slightly preferred at this time to the first stroke to the player. Boudebouz was consecrated last season with 8 goals scored after 38 Ligue 1 games, standing out among the youth of greater thickness expressed in France in the last tournament.
I think that’s saying he prefers a move to Newcastle but who knows what a consecrated player really wants these days? I always find consecrated people difficult to deal with. A bit like cyclists in that respect. (more…)
Toon target?Valencia’s Vicente has said that his future lies in England and he is once again being connected to Newcastle United.
Spanish ‘periodistas deportivos’ (hacks to you and I) are suggesting that Newcastle have bid for Valencia left-winger Vicente Rodríguez Guillén. But I think something may have been lost in translation and what they’re really saying is that we’ve joined the bid to sign the player rather than actually make a quantifiable bid.
Although I don’t speak Spanish and they may have been saying his donkey’s on fire for all I know.
I mentioned this player a few posts back and said I was rather doubtful because he’s 29 and another midfielder. I still have my doubts but I thought I should mention that Vicente (who usually uses just the one name) is once again being connected to us by the foreign press.
The player, who has spent 11 years at Valencia and scored 50 goals in 319 appearances for them, said:
“In a few days I will decide my future and it will be in England.” (more…)
Tough acts to followOn arrival at Newcastle United Demba Ba was handed the number 19 shirt, leaving the number 9 shirt vacant. Does this indicate that there are plans to recruit another striker to fill it or is the shirt going to be retired for a while?
The Newcastle United number 9 shirt is of course sacred. Leaving it unfilled for a while – after Obafemi Martins moved to Wolfsburg – was a deliberate ploy by former manager Chris Hughton who said:
“It’s something I’ve done deliberately. We have a lot of strikers here and I’m quite sure that every single one of them would have wanted to wear the No 9 shirt. As soon as I came to this club I knew what it meant and it’s both my decision and a combination of a few things.
“It can be a heavy number to carry, a burden, and wearing it is an achievement which I want somebody to grow into. I want somebody to earn the right to be Newcastle’s No 9. I don’t want to suggest that the strikers here aren’t worthy of it because each of them has a real strong value.
“I don’t anticipate years going by without one, but I know what the number nine is and I don’t want it to be an issue. The only issue I want is the normal stuff of the team performing well or not performing well, winning games or not winning games, and that’s very much team based.” (more…)
Big, big, big, big playerJose Enrique’s future at Newcastle United still remains doubtful, although Alan Pardew says the club is trying its best to entice him to stay.
The Enrique situation still seems to be dragging on without solution and, in a recent interview, Alan Pardew used a quartet of successive ‘bigs’ to demonstrate what he thinks about Enrique but also says he remains unsure about the player’s future:
“I’m still hopeful that Enrique – who was a big, big, big, big player for us last year – stays at the football club and we can entice him to stay, and obviously we are still working on that.
“Jose’s holidaying and doesn’t have too much on at the moment, so we are not confident we can keep him, but we are not scared of losing him. It’s somewhere in between, really.
“When you have only got a year left on a player of his ability, of course you are vulnerable, and I think it’s nervous times for us on him.” (more…)
