Wants to stay?The Sunday Mirror carried a story today with quotes from Newcastle United right-back Danny Simpson which suggest that he wants to stay at the club. As we know, Danny has one year left of his current contract but United are looking to agree a new deal now, rather than let him leave as a free agent next year.
An offer is allegedly on the table but Danny and his advisers currently do not feel it reflects his value.
Danny told the Sunday Mirror:
“I’m not a greedy player and I just want to be on par with the other players around me. In football terms, what I’m asking for is by no means outrageous, I want to stay at this club and I’ve been saying that all season. I’ve recently had a baby, I’m happy here and so is my family.
“Hopefully me and the club can find some solution. I want to stay but if I have to move, then I will accept it and move on. But it’s a great club with 50,000 screaming Geordies at the game every week. Why would I want to leave? There is speculation but I want to state, like I have all season, I want to stay.
“Over the last two years I’ve played nearly 80 games and started most of them. I’m not being greedy, this club is on the up, the manager and staff are brilliant – I want to stay.” (more…)
I have not written for quite a while on this ‘blog, so this post is just a gentle reintroduction from me without much substance, but I feel I can get away with it just this once to ease myself back into things.
It gets worse because I’m about to do some dreaded hearsay Daily Mail style reporting.
I had reason to hire a ‘Man With A Van’ recently to help clear out a house after a bereavement. This ‘Man With A Van’ happened to be a Geordie and came accompanied by a son at no extra charge. I’m not entirely sure of the son’s purpose in the whole house clearing thing I had to do as he seemed reluctant to lift anything and merely ate all my biscuits. However, this son apparently dates a girl who worked in the press office at SJP and we got onto the subject of whether or not Andy Carroll is for sale because, obviously, there has been much speculation about that recently. According to my ‘source’ (hey, I feel like a real reporter now!) Andy Carroll is for sale, but so is everyone else at Newcastle United.
Now of course, I am not silly enough to put any faith in what is essentially gossip, particularly as it came from someone who ate all my biscuits. I am however getting to a point, the point being: Does it matter anyway? (more…)
It's a Landon thing?Newcastle United are rumoured to be interested in signing USA international Landon Donovan when the January transfer window opens in the new year.
Rumours suggest that Newcastle will be going toe-to-toe with Everton as both clubs try to sign the pacey midfielder on a three-month loan deal, much like Everton did last season.
It is for that reason that I suspect that this is just a rumour, a bit of speculation. Donovan was at Everton for three months last season, and you would have to say that would put Everton at the top of the list for the USA international if a similar deal was offered again. A return to familiar surroundings at a ground where he bacame a bit of a crowd favourite would be on the cards in my view.
Still, with the transfer window only two months away it was perhaps inevitable that the rumour mill would start cranking into life, and along with the rumours comes the return of our old friend, the club source. (more…)
New arrival?Good news, or is it? Hatem Ben Arfa looks like he is finally set to move to Newcastle, according to Marseille president Jean-Claude Dassier anyway.
I wrote a little bit about this yesterday, and have been reading through the various comments and links to translated articles that have been posted since I went to work last night with interest.
On the surface of things, the move looks like it is almost sealed for a fee of between £1-2 million up front with a further £5 million to be payable in the event that Ben Arfa plays 25 games for Newcastle. Those figures are purely speculative mind, just to clarify, but they have been mentioned so I just thought that I would throw them out there.
One thing has been niggling away at the back of my mind though, particularly regarding Dassier and his claims that Ben Arfa is to fly to Newcastle today, and that a deal has been agreed. Some of that sounded a bit familiar to me, then I realised that Newcastle had apparently agreed a deal with Marseille weeks ago according to Dassier, and nothing came of it then, so why should we believe him now? (more…)
Ben Arfa - Close to Toon switch, again?It’s fair to say that news regarding the transfer of Hetam Ben Arfa has, thankfully, been scarce over the past few days.
But now the most on/off of on/off transfers looks to be back on, as sources in France indicate that Newcastle have made an acceptable off for the French international.
That deal is said to be a loan with the stipulation that the player will be bought for a future fee after playing in 25 games for Newcastle although as yet nothing is confirmed and that is just a rumour based on what the Marseille president, Jean-Claude Dassier has said to the press, and we all know that the guy seems to like the sound of his own voice by now anyway!
Werder Bremen were said to be interested in the player, but in fairness to them they have denied it at every step of the way. That should mean that all Ben Arfa needs to apparently do is agree to join us, and with time remaining in the transfer window running out, that decision will have to be made sooner rather than later. (more…)
