Newcastle want Bale but so do Tottenham, Arsenal and Manchester United
What exactly has possessed Glenn Roeder to go after Gareth Bale, I’m not sure. My best guess is that either he he knows something about Manchester United’s supposed interest in the Southampton left back that we don’t, or he’s betting that Manchester United won’t be interested in picking up Bale after all.
Gareth Bale is tipped to leave Southampton this summer after rumours that he had turned down a new contract. Popular opinion is that Manchester United will come knocking in the summer, but there are three possible scenarios to the deal, which involve Manchester United, Newcastle, Tottenham and Arsenal.
1. Manchester United and Arsenal are not interested
Tottenham or Newcastle United? It would be a stepping stone towards his Champions League ambitions, so he might just go for the London life as opposed to the bigger stadium and fan support that Duff went for.
2. Manchester United are interested and have money
If United are interested, it’s tough to stop them. Arsenal will be loathe to spend the sort of money Man Utd will be willing to pay, and it would all depend on whether United ditch Silvestre / Heinze and whether United are able to put together the money to buy Hargreaves and a striker apart from Bale.
Assuming they have the cash, they’ll get their player.
3. Manchester United aren’t interested / don’t have the money
If money isn’t the issue, I think Bale would end up going to Arsenal. Wenger’s recent records with youngsters is great and United already have a bunch of youngsters coming through on a conveyor belt. The next season will see competition for places increase in the defence, so Bale will really have to fight for a spot.
Where will Bale go?
Ideally Bale would go to a club that guaranteed him the best mixture of playing time, wages and quality of competition. UEFA Cup qualification will be very important for both Tottenham and Newcastle in securing their transfer targets. Man Utd and Arsenal will have to worry about how to fit Bale into their sides, and for my money there’s more space at Arsenal than at United.
We could always make space for him, or send him out on loan to Newcastle…
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Richardson & Eagles may well be sold this summer, and whilst Giggs is still playing well, it can’t be too long before he needs replacing. Bale can be seen as part of our long term stategy to bolster the wings. At leftback he would currently have to compete with Heinze and Evra, but the situation with Heinze is far from clear (he can buy himself our of his contract this summer, and given the success of Evra he may well be tempted to move on).
With all due respect Ahmed Newcastle do not have a bigger support than Spurs, they do have a bigger stadium. I think you need to check your facts before writing such diatribe
What a ridiculous question to ask - why go for Gareth Bale?! A better question would be - Why NOT go for Gareth Bale?! He’s a very talented youngster and plays in the position we need to strengthen in. What are we supposed to do: not go for good players because other clubs might be interested in them?! Just a completly ridiculous article.
OK, Bale is in great demand but so what?! Newcastle has to target the best players and that means sometimes we’ll lose out to other clubs. That’s life.
And as for suggesting that Tottenham could be a bigger draw than Newcastle - don’t make me laugh!!!!!!!!!!!! Since when have Tottenham EVER been in the Champions League or challenged for the premiership title - try NEVER!Spurs are a soft side of bad travellers with a dodgy keeper and have been well and truly exposed as being that this season. Necastle are a bigger club than Spurs - even setting aside being higher than them in the league and having done the double over them this season. To suggest that it’s only in the size of our stadium that Newcastle scores points over Spurs is frankly ridiculous.
John - Newcastle have not been particularly succesful over the last couple of seasons, and Spurs have a far wider global fan base than Newcastle do (when was the last time Newcastle won a trophy? 1969. Spurs have won more FA cups and European trophies than have Newcastle, and have more world-famous former players. Granted Newcastle are marginally superior at the moment, but please don’t demonstrate such absolute bias.
Hugo, why shouldn’t I exhibit bias - Im a fan for God’s sake?!
Seriously though, I never said that Spurs didn’t have a big fan base or anything like that. But Ahmed trying to write Newcastle off as simply having a big stadium is ridiculous. Newcastle right here and now are a bigger club than Spurs - end of. Neither club has actually won anything for awhile but Newcastle have played at a higher level than Spurs for the at least the last ten years. In that time we’ve played in the Champions league, plaayed in the UEFA cup, challenged for the title on numerous occassions, we’ve broken the world transfer record and twice signed the best English Striker around - Shearer then Owen.
Newcastle deserves much more credit for it’s acheivements than simply acknowledging that we’ve got a big stadium and large crowds.