Sam Still Seeking New Players for Newcastle United
We expect Sam to sign Joey Barton (pending), Ben Haim, David Rozehnal, Derek Boateng and Leighton Baines – probably in that order and think most of these are tied up. Of course we already have Mark Viduka in the bag and expect Ben Haim and Rosehnal to be announced as Newcastle United players early next week. But we do believe that all six players will eventually sign for Newcastle United.
New players that Sam has been reported after - and we’ll have to keep an eye on these - include the following:
- Ludovic Giuly – 30 year old Frenchman from Barcelona – competition will come from Marseille, Monaco, Fiorentina and Juventus. Ludo has been made aware of Newcastle’s interest.
- Craig Bellamy – news broke in last couple of days – he’d be expensive at 8M – but only coming if Owen goes we suspect. We feel that he would definitely come back to Newcastle.
- El-Hadji Diouf is a possible alternative target to Giuly for the role of right-sided attacker in Allardyce’s favored 4-3-3 formation – to give James Milner some competition. We’re sure Diouf would jump at the chance of teaming up with Sam again but apparently Diouf may be out of contract next summer so Sam may wait until January to make a cut-price bid. (Good thinking!). But here’s another dodgy character that Sam wants in – but he did handle him well at Bolton – but El-Hadji Diouf makes Bellamy look like a choir boy on the field
- Luke Young – Charlton right back – Sam has apparently registered his interest in the 27 year old. Rumor has it Luke doesn’t get along with Curbishley and the transfer dee hopefully is modest – we were thinking around 2M (?).
- Habib Beye, the Marseille right-back has also entered Allardyce’s thinking as he looks to bolster a defense which has performed badly for longer than we care to imagine.
Meanwhile, Joey Barton’s pay-off wrangle with Manchester City won’t stand in the way of him joining Newcastle, according to his agent, Willie McKay. That’s good news and with all the adverse publicity over the weekend we think Joey will ensure this saga comes to a quick end early next week.
Sam also talked about the Michael Owen situation – or should we call it saga - which has caused lots of press reports today but Sam’s quote is what we already knew.
“There’s nothing I can do about it. We are benefiting from a release clause to get Joey Barton, but could suffer because of Michael’s.”
The saving grace for Newcastle (is it really that – we should probably ditch him now if he really wants to leave) is that top clubs will probably want proof of his fitness – as Benitez of Liverpool has been quoted as saying. There’s an article on Owen on the Newcastle United Blog.
Finally, Newcastle United are still trying to sort out their pre-season fixtures and a tournament in South Africa they had planned to compete in has fallen through.
“South Africa has also fallen by the wayside.
By the looks of it now, we’re going to play all our pre-season games in this country. That means I will try to sort out a seven to 10-day conditioning break abroad, so that we can all come together and all get to know each other. Of course, a lot of the players know each other anyway, as do a lot of the staff.
It’s just a case of getting them to work the way I want us to work, and sort out the day to day things - stuff like the time we start training, how we train, what meetings do we have.
It’s also to start working with the players not just out on the training field, but also in the video analysis rooms, and start showing them some data that will help them understand a bit more about what we have to do to cover the marathon that we start on August 11.”
It’s nice to see Sam talking about building the team spirit at Newcastle. One thing we liked about Bolton was the players never gave up - and they performed always at 100% effort - especially when Sam showed himself on the touch line.
We want that same passion and commitment at Newcastle….starting with the first game next season - August 9th.
Comments welcome.
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Discussion - 25 Responses
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I’m looking forward to seeing the final shape of Newcastle’s squad come September 1st, but honestly don’t see them getting into the top 4 unless Arsenal crash and burn.
Good article and I hope we can get those players in quickly. It’ll be nice to have most things players in place and not be scraping around for players come deadline day. I like the sound of what he’s trying to do pre-season. It looks like were looking at playing 4-3-3, which is ok, but it will be interesting to see how owen and martins etc fit in. IS he really looking at playing Dyer right back?
I Would love to see Baines, Ben Haim, and Young in the back four. I’m delighted he’s looking to flog Babayaro, and can see why he’d try and keep Carr as back up. He’s not my cup of tea, but adds experience to what would still be a relatively young back four. We’ll still get a couple of left backs I think and a new right back with the above mentioned singings. He might and try to get Nzogbia to play left back, he did it with gardener at Bolton, and we need attacking full backs playing 4-3-3.
In Midfield Boeteng is in direct competition for Butts holding role, We’ve got Emre, who plays the left sided 3 well for Turkey and did at Inter Milan. And we’ve probably got Barton on the right. Thats good enough for me. We’ve got strength in depth as Zog can play left midfield or left centre. Dyer can play anywhere in it, and even Duff, Milner or Solanao at a push.
Up front we’ve got Martins, Ameobi, Owen and Viduka, plus probably Duff, Dyer, Milner or even Zog in a 4-3-3.
So providing no one leaves and we build the defence I think we’ll have a pretty strong starting 11 with planty cover with some good prospects coming through the acadamy. However if Owen or someone else significant moves then I think we can expect a few more coming and goings. I think an interesting summer ahead. Hopefully Sam can rebuild the sqaud on the cheap and add some real quality later on when Ashley gives him a war chest follwoing his strategic review.
I’m looking forward to seeing the shape of the squad come Sep.1st. I honestly have heard nothing about the 5 mentioned and Derek Boateng. I think that Big Sam will tie up five of the first ones the one not signed being Boateng. Also, I don’t think Newcastle will win the title within 3 years. Top 4 is more likely.
Just a quick correction: if Luke Young is unhappy, it’ll be with Pardew, not with Curbishley
I wonder if Spurs would be interested in Giuly… I can’t see why not, especially when 1.5 million is quoted as a possible price.
I haven’t heard anything in the press about Derek Boateng, but I seem to remember him being a striker, not a midfielder.. (unlike George…)
(isn’t that what i said last summer ?)
Thanks for heads up. There hasn’t been much lately on Derek Boateng who was an attacker converted to midfield. He is from Ghana and currently plays for Israel at Beitar Jerusalem.
Here’s a good piece on him and Newcastle’s interest.
http://www.myzongo.com/Derek-Boateng-for-Newcastle.html
It looks Sam will keep Carr because of his experience - that’s OK - but he will not get many games. When Carr comes in he may actually play well for Sam - it wouldn’t be surprising. He’s the type of player Sam can revive.
Got this feeling we will sell Dyer - and if Owen doesn’t want to stay - sell him too. Maybe we can get 18M UK pounds for the two of them - not bad - Dyer’s had far too many chances at Newcastle. We can use that 18M on other players - like another small quick striker. I dream that Carlos Tevez will play for us one day - he looks very good in black and white stripes…..
I know derek boateng very well and have seen him playing for Panathinaikos.I don’t what level of football he plays now but for Panathinaikos he was fairly average.Don’t buy him.Oh and he is an attcking midfielder (was in pan…)
from what I can see he playe in very average leagues
http://www.footballtransfers.co.uk/squads/club2138.html
Panathinaikos, AIK ,B.Jerusalim …
what the hell will he be doing in Premiership?Forget him he’s not essien or appiah
Well Yakubu played for Maccabi Haifa and, on top form, is one of the best strikers in the Premiership. So it’s not necessarily conclusive
“unless Arsenal crash and burn”-oh, yes, please God! I promise I’ll be good if you give me that.
I think that Big Sam just might buy Derek Boateng. He buys a lot of cheap players and gets the best out of them. I’m not sure the supporters will be happy but maybe it’ll be a good signing. Also, i think that big sam could be one of the best managers ever at newcastle if he gets time. If the chairman demands results right now then he might not be the best.
How much would giuly cost. I think he’s a good buy but sam might go after him in the january transfer window to get a better price
There’s an article on nufcblog today that says Leighton Baines costs too much and is too short to come to Newcastle. Sam is looking for taller fullbacks and a little bit cheaper as well. When you’ve got Mike Ashley coming into the club and injecting a vein of money, surely you can pay 5 million pounds.
ttts- we’re all praying
How is it a nightmare scenario if Newcastle don’t make the top 6?????
Ed - I’d give the Ashley-Sam duo a couple of years before breathing down on their necks. It’s unfair to them, and it’s disrespectful of the the competition, to consider that Newcastle would have failed if they don’t make the top-6 next season.
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