Free to do what he wants, any old time?Rumours coming from a number of sources including The Telegraph and The Sun in the last 48 hours, claim that Sol Campbell may be on the verge of joining Newcastle, now that his contract has officially been cancelled with Notts County. Now this isn’t exactly new, or ground-breaking news as it’s something the majority of us have been hearing about for quite some months.
But The Telegraph quotes Hughton:
“Well Sol would be one of a number of players that, of course, we will be assessing over the next month because come the end of January we have to make sure that we have the right squad and the right players. Of course it is not only us that know about Sol’s situation and it won’t only be us who are interested.
The most important thing for us is that in that last hour of the window that we have a squad in place that will take us through the last period of this season which will be a very demanding period.
“It will also be a period where the other teams will be strengthening and deciding what they need as they address that last period of the season themselves. We have to make sure that we are right come that last day.”
This could tie-in to reports that we’re set for a battle with Hull City to sign Matthew Kilgallon from Sheffield Utd in January. (more…)
Winging his way to Lancashire?According to reports on Sky Sports News we’ve received an estimated £4m bid from an unidentified Premier League club for Duffer. And in keeping with recent activity it seems we are considering the offer for the Irish international.
As we expected, the fire sale is well and truly underway and we were always likely to lose players with Premiership experience. Duff is also one of the higher earners so the board will be keen to let him go for a decent price. Losing a million from the price we paid for him, all things considered, probably looks like good business to Ashley and co.
Despite stating his desire to stay at Newcastle, the likelihood is that a return to the top flight is sure to turn his head. Having scored in our draw with West Brom, Duff will have done wonders for his appeal to potential suitors and he arguably has a couple of years left in him if he can regain his form. (more…)
Does the glamour of Hull await for Beye?Hot on the heels of Sebastien Bassong’s Tottenham move comes news that highly regarded Newcastle United right-back, Habib Beye is on the verge of a move to the Hull City Tigers.
City chairman, Paul Duffen, has confirmed that an offer has been accepted by United, after a previous £2 million bid failed to hit the mark with Toon owner, Mike Ashley. The sum is thought to be much closer to the £4 million mooted by the hierarchy at Saint James’s Park. It has also been reported that Beye has also been a target of Aston Villa’s Martin O’Neill.
However, although it sounds like a bid has been accepted, it is by no means certain that beye and Hull will reach agreement on personal terms, especially over salary. Beye is currently receiving around £30,000 per week on Tyneside. (more…)
