Newcastle need to strengthen midfield and attack in the summer
In yesterday’s article we considered Newcastle’s defense and what could happen in the summer transfer window and the summary was that out go Moore, Bramble, Carr and Bernard and in come Gooch, Ferdinand, Distin and Bridge – all for a net outlay of $8M.
Today we will consider the midfield and attack and how we can and should strengthen these areas during the summer.
We are well off in central midfield with Emre, Butt, Parker and Dyer currently vying for the two positions.
Emre however is having difficulties at Newcastle with the racism claims – and my suspicion is that he will leave the club in the summer – probably to Bayern Munich as a replacement for Owen Hargreaves – who will most likely become a Manchester United player.
We should be able to recoup the $4M we paid Inter-Milan for him two years ago.
Who’s available in central midfield?
Steve Sidwell of Reading becomes a free agent in the summer and will add some height to our midfield and he is also young (24) and would be an excellent acquisition for the future. Since he is a free agent he would cost nothing – but there will obviously be competition from other clubs – but let’s assume we can get him.
We hear that Reo-Coker has impressed Glenn Roeder and he may be available if West Ham are relegated – but a better buy would be young Giles Barnes of Derby County. He is young (18) and a future star and unlike the other youngster currently starring in the Championship – Gareth Bale of Southampton – Barnes could be bought for a reasonable fee ($3M).
We are well placed for wide men with Duff, N’Zogbia, Milner and Solano (and Alan O’Brien) – so there is no desperate need to buy in this area of the team.
Indeed Duff could be sold with little impact – given the dynamic form of youngster Charles N’Zogbia – but I wouldn’t expect this to happen yet – unless money is short.
For strikers we will have Owen, Martins and Ameobi available next year – three excellent players but we need another target man up front with height. The lack of height has been a problem this season with Ameobi being the only one of the three with height – and he has been out with a hip injury. David Nugent and Dean Ashton would certainly fit the bill but Darren Bent will probably be too expensive and we should not pay silly money.
My choice would be Peter Crouch from Liverpool. He is good on the ground and while he doesn’t score as many goals as he should with his head – he nevertheless can knock balls down for players like Owen, Martins and Dyer.
He should be availble given that striker Andriy Voronin from the Ukraine will be signing for Liverpool in the summer. He would also provide a new tactical approach in games should things need changing – and for $8M he would be a good buy for Newcastle.
In summary for the midfield and attack out goes Emre ($4M) and in come Sidwell (free) Barnes ($3M) and Crouch ($8M) for a net outlay of $7M.
As an overall review and including yesterday’s article on the defense – here is an overall possible summer transfer scenario for Newcastle:
DEFENSE:
OUT: Moore, Bramble ($2M), Carr ($2M), Bernard
IN: Gooch ($4M), Ferdinand ($4M), Distin (free), Bridge ($4m)
MIDFIELD:
OUT: Emre ($4M)
IN: Sidwell (free), Barnes ($3M)
ATTACK:
IN: Crouch ($8M).
This would all be for a total net outlay $15M.
If that is too much cash for the club – we can always think of selling Duff to Tottenham and recoup at least $6M.
I think this would be good business and vastly improve the team – let me know what you think !
Before someone points it out to me – yes I forgot about Albert Luque – but that just about sums up his impact at Newcastle – invisible.
We need to get Albert off the books and let’s hope we can get $3M for him.
To be fair to Luque he will still be a good player in the Spanish leaugue – but his move to Newcastle has been a nightmare for both him and the club.
I dont know, your article is very presumptuous and unrealistic. Firstly when steve sidwell becomes a free agent im sure one of the big 4 might just be interested and if thats the case then he wont sign for Newcastle. Then there is no way in hell that barnes will be available so cheap, British talent is very pricey, even for an 18 year old ( look at Gareth Bale). From what i understand its N’Zogbia who is more likely to leave than duff, and honestly to sell duff would make no sense. About luque, i think they should loan him out for a season, to prove to clubs he can still play, because if the sell him right now, Newcastle wont get anything for him. For me Ameobi doesnt cut it, yea he played really well before he got injured but before this season he was crap for the longest time so you do need a big target to get others in play, like john carew. I dont think crouch will leave just yet so you might have to look elsewhere. Its a good article, a bit wishful thinking, but good, only really dont think the prices are close to realistic, cheers.
I’m a Tottenham fan…and I honestly hope we outbid you for Barnes
A – some good points – particularly on Luque. Loaning him out for a year may be good if someone will pay his salary – or a large part of it – but generally they fix the fee before the loan – but your point is a good one.
We missed out on John Carew – he looked fabulous against Newcastle.
On Ameobi – you have the same opinion as my son – but I like him and who knows – he should be better next season with his hip OK.
i think bramble’s out of contract in the summer, so if he goes it’s a free. if he sugns a new one i think he’ll be here until january at the earliest.
moore & bernard are all but gone i think.
no chance we’ll get 2m for carr, we’d be lucky to get 500k.
gooch looks probable & ferdinand looks more likely with each day that passes. for me tho, it’s woodgate & you can keep the rest. still a slim chance of this but i can’t see it happenin.
distin would be on a bosman, so he’ll want silly money & given the manner of his departure, i can’t see ffs coughin it up.
bridge would be a great signing , but i would think 5m is more realistic. touch & go whether or not he’d come tho.
emre looks like he’s gone already, luque has to leave for the sake of his career if nothing else.
not seen enough of barnes or sidwell to comment, but i agree with the other guy, 3m for a highly rated 18 year old seems pretty cheap given the ridiculous fees touted by the clubs these days.
up front i’d take ashton rather than crouch. i think he could be a belter with the right players to feed off him & he knows where the back of the net is too.
i liked the ideas you put forward, just think you’re being a bit optimistic on the prices of some of the players mentioned.
sean – thanks – I think you may be right on the fees – a number of people have pointed that out – and we know fees can quickly go up if we have competition from the big clubs.
Ashton would be fine with me – it will be interesting to see who Roeder really wants as the fourth striker.
But I’d like to see us wheel and deal in the sumnmer – good players will be out there – and if we are sensible (which Roeder is – and Souness wasn’t) we can strengthen the squad significantly.
Also – now is the time for us to be doing the negotiating – just like Liverpool did to get Andriy Voronin – we should not be waiting for the transfer window to open – we should be getting ahead of the competition right now.
Half an hour gone in the Derby-Colchester game, Giles Barnes has looked absolutely fantastic, just as powerful and exciting as Huddlestone but with a great deal more pace. He has paved the way for one goal, set up another, and scored the third. He’ll be in the premiership next season without any doubt – though perhaps with Derby.
4m for gooch you must be joking. the defence does need sorting, i would consider bringing in wes brown, wayne bridge and johnathan woodgate if we can pinch him form the boro. we dont need any midfield players as we are strong in this area, one forward would huntelaar from ajax