Wage demands too excessive?A senior Newcastle United source says we’re going off the idea of bringing Charles N’Zogbia to the club due to his approach to things.
It seems that Newcastle are cooling on the prospect of bringing Charles N’Zogbia to the club, mainly due to what they see as ‘mercenary tactics’ by the player.
Newcastle have apparently been quoted a £12m fee by Whelan’s mob for The Zog and the player is said to be demanding £60k a week in wages, which apparently brought on such fits of expectoration in Mike Ashley that he almost brought up all the pies he had for breakfast.
A ‘senior Newcastle United source’ told The Journal:
“The N’Zogbia situation is turning into a bun fight, there are a lot of clubs in for him and there is a lot of confusion about what his intentions are.
“It seems he is waiting to see who offers him the most money, that is his priority and is that the sort of person we want to play for Newcastle United?
“He is a very talented boy, but is he just a mercenary? We are considering all of these things. We need to have a long hard think about it because it is a lot of money to spend on one player who left under a cloud.” (more…)
Record transfer?Mike Ashley will have to break his own transfer record if he wants to bring N’Zogbia to Newcastle United.
Whilst Wigan will let Charles N’Zogbia go to a Champions League club for £9m, they will only let him go to another Premier League club – including us – for £12m.
Apparently this is because Wigan believe that any non-Champions League club will be a direct competitor against them to beat the drop next season, which does tend to suggest that Wigan aren’t particularly optimistic about their chances in 2011/2012.
If Ashley did rob his piggy bank to pay for N’Zogbia it would be a new record for him, beating the £10.3m he paid Deportivo for Fabricio Coloccini in August 2008, and it would also be double what we sold him to Wigan for (although we did get Ryan Taylor in with the deal).
The Journal suggests that N’Zogbia would be offered a £55,000/week contract (£2.86m/year) which would probably be at the higher end of the sorts of wages Ashley is prepared to pay players. (more…)
Martinez says no. Rumours say yes.Newcastle’s interest in Charles N’Zogbia seems to be stifled by Roberto Martinez, although many rumours persist suggesting The Zog may yet be returning to St James’ Park.
Newcastle’s pursuit of The Zog has been heavily rumoured since we allegedly made a last minute bid for the player in January.
There is however a spanner in the works and it goes by the name of Roberto Martinez. The Wigan manager has claimed he will only sell N’Zogbia to a Champions League team, saying:
“Charles has improved every year. He’s scored 10 goals a season for the past two years and taken on more responsibility. He’s been captain. I think he can take on more responsibility on the pitch and I still think he’s got a role to play for Wigan Athletic.
“He knows I wouldn’t stop him from playing in the Champions League. We cannot offer that and there are a few players here who fall into that category of being able to play in the Champions League.
“If a club comes in for Charles that is not in the Champions League, then I would say ‘no’. If I don’t see that the club can offer him a different football project than ours then we are not going to sell.” (more…)
What colour stripes will he wear?The Zog may be heading the Mackemland, Lyon are after Enrique and Pardew still wants Bothroyd. Allegedly.
According to that paragon of virtue The Daily Mail, we might fail in out attempts to sign Charles N’Zogbia from Wigan.
Based on absolutely no evidence, quotes, ‘club sources’ or anything else that I can see, The Mail suggests that Bruce and the baboons from Wearside lead both Juventus and Newcastle in the race to sign the £10m-rated player.
Clearly no player would actually choose to go to Sunderland over Newcastle (or Juventus), so my sympathy goes to The Zog if Martinez and Whelan send him there kicking and screaming.
Is there a team anywhere that doesn’t want Jose Enrique? If the press is to be believed he seems like the most in-demand player in the Premiership and his list suitors has been extended with alleged interest from Olympique Lyon.
Lyon currently have Ahly Cissokho at left-back but rumour has it that he’s on his way to Inter Milan in the summer. (more…)
The Zog to return?Newcastle United are allegedly after Charles N’Zogbia whilst contract negotiations complicate the situations with Barton and Enrique.
The weekend press contained a lot of football gossip as per usual. Some of it’s probably true but most of it is likely to be nonsense, so please don’t shoot the messenger!
One of the things reported is that there’s been a bit of a stall on Barton’s contract with the 28 year-old wanting a 4 year contract as opposed to the 2 year one offered to him in January. Compromising on a 3 year contract might be the way to go if Joey will accept that, which I don’t think is too much of a risk as he’d still only be 31 at the end of the contract.
On the subject of contracts, The Sun reckons Jose Enrique will be offered a 5 year contract and a decent pay rise if he agrees to stay at Newcastle. I’m not sure how The Sun knows that because all Alan Pardew has had to say on the matter is:
“He’s not indicated to myself or to Derek what his intentions are. We’re still optimistic of course. I’d love to keep him. Absolutely love to keep him.
“But I think we have to be on our guard because there are so many noises about him. I think that’s the nature of the business we’re in.”
Were there shades of Keegan in that comment? “I’d love it, absolutely love it if he stays”. (more…)
