Still in our sights?Newcastle United’s pursuit of Mobida Maiga continues despite threats of UEFA involvement and an alleged £10m price tag on the player.
There have been many twists and turns with this Mobida Maiga debacle and there’ll probably be few more before it has finished.
Yesterday it was reported that the striker may have ‘faked’ a knee injury to avoid playing in the next game but Maiga and Kevin Anin – another player seeking an exit (to Arsenal) and who was allegedly ‘injured’ – are both now back with the squad. Sochaux coach Mecha Bazdarevic had this to say:
“It happens to be bullshit.”
Although whether that’s in relation to the players’ actual injury claims, the press reports about those claims or one of Alan Pardew’s speeches is unclear.
Bazdarevic goes on to tell L’Equipe:
“We had a very good exchange. They said they were injured, but are now better and that I could count on them.” (more…)
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…)
Door open, says Lyon coachAlan Pardew intends to use yesterday’s victory over the mackems as a springboard to entice more action from the Newcastle United board in terms of transfers.
Yesterday’s result was extremely satisfying – as any win over the hapless mackems is – but I think we’d all like to see a new left-back and a new striker in before the transfer window closes.
Pardew is obviously thinking along the same lines, which I must mention to my psychiatrist in case agreeing with Alan Pardew is indicative of something worrying. Pardew said:
“A victory like today helps me with Derek and Mike to go upstairs and say, ‘Come on, let’s try to get them in this week’.
“We want to get the right players and we want to get the best value we can, and we are trying to do that.
“The group I have got is sound. They are aware to balance us up, we perhaps need a left-back in the building and we need a striker in, and that’s what we are going to try to do.” (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…)
New keeper at the ToonNewcastle United sign a new goalkeeper after loaning Forster out to Celtic.
It appears we have actually signed a new goalkeeper. Or are about to, depending upon which newspaper you read. There isn’t yet any official confirmation from Newcastle United but I get the impression this is a done deal.
The keeper in question comes in the shape of Rob Elliot, who currently plays for Charlton Athletic. He’s actually played for them since 2004 but was loaned out between 2004 and 2007 to, variously, Bishop’s Stortford, Notts County and Accrington Stanley.
Scaling Elliot would take a 6ft 3in rope, he’s 23 years old and has just over 140 league appearances to his name.
Apparently Ben Hamer has been handed the number 1 shirt at Charlton this season and a lot of Charlton fans expected a possible exit for Elliot.
There have been no reports of a fee yet but he was contracted with Charlton until 2012 so I presume there was one, although I can’t imagine it was much. (more…)
