Twin targets still on?Newcastle United still appear to be pursuing Modiba Maiga, who missed out on his weekend league game again, and Erik Pieters, who Alan Pardew allegedly went to watch on Sunday.
It seems that Newcastle think striking striker Modibo Maiga is still a plausible target despite his club – Sochaux – insisting last week that he will not be released.
When Sochaux’s coach arrived at Picot for their game on the weekend, Sochaux manager Mécha Baždarevi said in reference to Maiga:
“No, he’s not here. He will not play.”
Maiga is alleged to have gone on strike for the game again but officially he has claimed to have a ‘pain in the knee’, although not one bad enough to warrant him seeking a medical certificate. (more…)
Still an option?How many players do you think Newcastle United will recruit before the transfer window closes?
There seems to be a fair bit of ‘NUFC depression’ around this week, mainly due to the lack of transfer activity I suppose.
Having said that, it seems that we’re still pursuing Modibo Maiga despite Sochaux’s Chairman apparently rejecting out of hand any transfer for the player. Some reports are suggesting that we will submit a new £9.5m bid in order to try and find some cracks in Sochaux’s stance.
Furthermore, according to Alan Pardew, the ‘plan’ triggered by Enrique’s departure has sprung into action and a new left-back is being pursued with vigour. I’m not sure whether that’s Pieters or Cissokho but we have been told to expect that it will be a tough task to recruit a left-back due to other clubs “knowing we need one”.
So far during this transfer window we’ve brought in Cabaye, Marveaux, Obertan and Ba into the senior squad. And possibly Abeid, although I’m not sure whether he classes as a full first-team player yet.
There are now 12 days left in the transfer window and I wanted to gauge the optimism of Toon fans about those remaining 12 days with a poll. (more…)
Upbeat about transfers.Newcastle United appear to be struggling to land a new striker and a new left-back, but Alan Pardew has not given up hope. The Newcastle manager admits we’re not stronger than we were last year but thinks we will be by the end of the transfer window.
The prospect of signing Modibo Maiga seems to be fading with every day and it seems that Sochaux’s Chairman Alexandre Lacombe is going to force Maiga to see out his contract until 2014.
“There are those who speak and those who do,” said Lacombe, although quite what he meant by that is anybody’s guess, but the French press are suggesting that the door is now firmly shut in terms of Maiga transferring to Newcastle.
The window however isn’t, and Alan Pardew thinks we may still be able to nip in that way and land our man. The usually mute manager had this to say:
“He is a player we want to bring to the club. That is where that is. Negotiations are still ongoing.” (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…)
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…)
