Yanga-Mbiwa and Pieters eyed as Colo and Simpson replacements?

November 23rd, 2011 | 76 Comments |

The last flurry of transfer speculation about Newcastle was mainly about attackers and, in the interests of balance, the press have been hitting us with speculation about defenders – either new or current – over the last few days.

The Daily Mail and The Sun, for example, have us interested in Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa, which is easy for them to say. He’s 22, plays for Montpellier and is a naturalised Frenchman originally from the Central African Republic, which is a place I really like on account of it being exactly where it says it is. A sort of geographical onomatopoeia.

Anyway, Yanga-Mbiwa started out as a right-back and has more recently played as a centre-back, which is the sort of versatility managers like. He’s been at Montpellier for his entire footballing career and has also notched up 8 appearances for France’s under-21 team. Arsenal were linked with the player, who is contracted with Montpellier until June 2013, at the end of last season. (more…)