Sunday transfer tittle-tattle.

Connor Wickham not on the hitlist.
There is a fair but of transfer speculation about today so rather than go mental and use it for several articles I thought I’d round it all up into one handy review for us all.

At this point I’ll do my regular disclaimer when it comes to speculation. Remember that I am just the messenger and all I’m doing is rounding up the various bits of gossip with regard to transfers. That’s right; gossip. That means you can take it with a pinch of salt, or a bucket, whichever you prefer, but it’s all up for debate so here goes.

The Sunday Sun has a fair bit in it this morning. Apparently the club are close to announcing a deal for an “international midfielder” and could make it public as early as this week. No name is mentioned but it could be anything from a new deal for Joey Barton to Stephen Ireland to someone we don’t actually have a clue about. Or Seb Harrison Larsson. Here is what Alan Pardew had to say in the matter:

“I think we’re close on one player which we would like to get over the line,” Pardew claimed. “And I can say that because he’s an international player – not someone who belongs to one of the bottom four battling relegation. There are two or three others we’re monitoring and we know what the figures are to get them over the line.”

With regard to strikers it would appear that a move for Connor Wickham is NOT on the agenda of the club. At the fee being thrown around for the services of the player I’d be inclined to agree with that assessment. Gervinho’s wages are apparently proving to be a stumbling block whilst Jeremey Menez, Shane Long and Jose Rondon are all still being watched by the club.

Moving onto potential deals, and it would appear that the club are set to open talks with Wigan regarding a move back to Newcastle. The club are apparently set to offer wages of £60,000-a-week to lure the player back to St James’ Park. Hmmm…..

Rumours abound that Cheikh M’Bengue could be a Newcastle player within two weeks according to The Mirror. Presumably he’ll be signed as a replacement for Jose Enrique rather than the cover that we so desperately need.

However, talks with Jose are scheduled this week after Liverpool have apparently cooled their interest over their unwillingness to match his current wages. According to the Sunday Sun Jose is the second highest paid left-back in the league, behind Ashley Cole. Hmmm.

For those who follow what that Twitter fella says, his latest pearl of wisdom is pictured below…


Make of that what you will.

As I said earlier, it’s all gossip so don’t take it too seriously. The only way we’ll know for definite if any of these deals are to come of is when the club announce it officially on their website.

Until then, speculate away!

About toonsy

A lifelong Newcastle fan and current webmaster of this very 'blog who has the sole aim of creating a place by Newcastle United fans, for Newcastle United fans.

126 thoughts on “Sunday transfer tittle-tattle.

  1. I don’t think Ashley is hugely keen on Barton. Both the image he brings to the club and the lack of playing time prior to this season. Also we are close to signing an ‘international central midfielder’ from france presumably. hmm Barton replacement anyone? I think Pardew will deffo be after a RW aswell so where does that leave Barton.

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  2. Well Bobby I am in no doubt he wants to stay has he has said before , and if its true that the stalemate is only because he wants 4 yrs but the club are only offering 2 yrs I think they need to wise up. Whats the point of signing Ranger, Tiote, Williamson etc up to 5 yr deals then they go and offer 1 of the best and important players at the club a 2 yr deal 👿
    But I guess it could be a bit like Saylors contract talks that dragged on and on while fans were turning against him saying that he was a greedy ***** and wasn’t Loyal to the club etc etc and now the same is starting to happen to Joey I have sen a few today say basically if he doesn’t want to stay fuk him let him go 😕

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  3. Also seems weird that Kevin Nolan has suddenly piped up about Barton. Negotiations have reached an impass possibly?

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  4. Dave – I’d rather Jose went over Barton. In my mind a left back with only two or three assists and no goals is replaceable. Barton and his assists and five goals from midfield aren’t 🙂

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  5. richietoon
    Posted May 22, 2011 at 1:07 PM

    “Is that a chicken thats been asked probing questions?”

    🙄 🙄 😆

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  6. Bobby I can see were your coming from over Carroll but in my eyes Carroll was only a few months into a new contract with the promise that they would sit down and look at it again after we had a season in the prem to see how he coped with the Prem.
    Also if he was forced out why did Tugboat have to help him decide that the Liverpool offer was one he should take and one he would regret not taking ? it doesn’t add up that he was being forced otherwise Tugboat would not have had to pack his bags 😉

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  7. toonsy
    Posted May 22, 2011 at 1:11 PM
    ‘Dave – I’d rather Jose went over Barton. In my mind a left back with only two or three assists and no goals is replaceable. Barton and his assists and five goals from midfield aren’t ‘

    Meh. Depends what international midfielder they are talking about doesn’t it?

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  8. DJG
    Posted May 22, 2011 at 1:14 PM

    “Meh. Depends what international midfielder they are talking about doesn’t it?”

    Or if the plan is to keep Barton on the right-ish.

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  9. I don’t know Dave. But there’s some better midfielders on the continent than in England I know that. And Barton isn’t even an international, well apart from one cap.

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  10. I don’t know. I just thought CM was an area that was well stocked (apart from the recent injury crisis) it suggests to me that someone may be on the way out.

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  11. “not someone who belongs to a bottom four battling relegation ” interesting line we are all thinking about someone from a good team ,but could it be an international already here playing for a side in the bottom 4 , just depends on how you interpret the Quote . Charlie Adam to replace the likes of Smith , Guthrie or Rtaylor ? hes a scottish international and won’t want to either play in the championship or for a team that he will spend as much time on the bench as on the field . Just a thought .

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  12. @ big Dave

    Toonsy seems in a bad mood again. We can’t talk about the Carroll issue. He send “end of conversation. 😯
    More **** he’s going thro likely. 😉

    Barton and Jose are both priorities in my book .

    Good left backs are hard to come by and he is good, knows the club and we all know what we are gonna get from him.

    He has openly stated that the club have lied about certain issues and didn’t like the sale of carroll. He’s ambitious and wants an ambitious club. All I ask, for the club to demonstrate they are ambitious.

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  13. Toonsy – I don’t think we could replace Enriques defending and link up play with Jonas though. It’s all very well saying he hasn’t scored any goals but that doesn’t mean we could just stick in James Perch and the team will be the same does it.

    I hope we keep Barton personally but I can see why Ashley is reluctant to hand him a 4 year contract coz what if he breaks down again for another 3 years. No doubt there will be a clause written in that if he goes back to jail, it’s an instant dismissal.

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  14. Bobby > All I ask, for the club to demonstrate they are ambitious.
    100% agree and I think if they do we will be a lot stronger for it, but we are just going to have to wait to see what the Fatman does.
    The only problem is is that we dont know what lies he is refering too 😕

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  15. DJG you cant hand out contract thinking What If otherwise we would have everyone on a rolling contract and we would probably be in the Blue Square.

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  16. @DJG

    Agree about Jose. I don’t think people realise how hard it will be to replace him.

    The club need to sit down with unsettled players and explain the plans and ambitions.

    The players are no wiser than us in terms of where Ashley sees us within 2 years.

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  17. they’re claiming that jose is on better money than patrice evra? i’d have my doubts about that.

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  18. So what you saying Big Dave, we should have offered Sol Campbell a 2 or 3 year contract? Alan Smith a 2 year extention 😉

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  19. Hello gang,

    Does anyone foresee the possibility of blazingly beautiful links today, or are we stuck with live blogging and such?

    Are we thinking young Shane will start in front of Enrique, then, what with Jonas’ broken ____________.

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  20. I think people are forgetting that the two seasons before this one, Barton made 24 appearances. Mike Ashley is looking at it from a business sense. He has the interests of the club no.1 and makes cold calculated business decisions. English players are expensive and at a premium. There are better, cheaper european players available. Ashley would set up a factory in a cheap country and sell to the rich countries, he doesn’t strike me as the sort of person who would ‘buy British’ because he is patriotic.

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  21. FSOTC I think we will struggle for decent links today 👿
    I think Shane will start but as for Jose if he is not staying and his heed is not in it they should bench him

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  22. Off topic but who does everyone on here want to see relegated today . I would love to see Wolves and Blackburn play out a draw and still both get relegated . But doubt that will happen , i think it will be Brum and Blackpool to go

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  23. ******! Just found out that there’s no guarantee the Toon game is on telly. It’s not listed on the programme guide. Still a chance, tho, there’s live premier leaguel on another channel.

    Although I might go split screen this time and watch 4 games at once. I expect Blackpool and Birmingham to go down. Would prefer Blackburn and Birmingham.

    Wish the football would just start.

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  24. Axel

    Wigan and Blackburn.

    Wigan because they are bullet dodgers and I wanna see them catch one this time. Blackburn because they were established like Wesh Ham. Birmingham I want another 6 points from next season although I kind of want them to go down to pay for winning a cup. Blackpool I want to stay up for some reason but can’t really see it happening. It would be funny if they got done 4-0 or something after all the build up from Holloway. :mrgreen:

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  25. ————-Krul————-
    —Saylor—-Collo—-M’Bengue–
    ————Tiote————-
    –Jonas–Nolan–Barton–N’Zog–
    ————HBA————–
    —-Long/Ranger/Sturridge——

    If that don’t get into europe i’ll eat my hat.

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  26. BSN9,
    Taking my son to the match, so will drink in moderation, maybe a couple of bottles of Becks 😉

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  27. Tiote playing almost like a sweeper in front of back three.

    Jonas and Zog crossing in while barton and nolan drop wider to defend gaps.

    on offence if wingers not in play, nolan can sneak up, grab a goal, then go missing.

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  28. I think you could go to France or Germany and pick a left back out of a hat and be ok as far as a bull replacement. Will lose a bit of class but don’t think the points tally will suffer too much.

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  29. Just for the record, I actually think we have finally found a manager who has one hell of a chance of winning us something!

    There’s just something about him, I think he talks well and the team is starting to attack games, which is a huge bonus.

    Well done Alan!

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  30. Pardew says in the programme that it was a special moment for him at Chelsea when the fans were chanting ‘Pardew give us a wave’.

    Did they chant that at Chelsea? Hope they did like.

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  31. Stu mate have you been on the bevvys? I’m liking your positive outlook and for the record I agree with you mate. Hope we’re right cos Pardew has certainly grown on me. It’s been a great day for NUFC so far with only good news breaking. I’d rather we signed Menez than Nzog but realistically taking Nzog back would be great business. Hope this international midfielder lives up to expectations when announced!

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  32. Must admit I’ll be delighted if the fans really sang that. To me Pardew has done well and gone about things in the right way since he’s been with us. Let’s hope he can keep that up for many years to come.

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  33. talking bosman players,i see bosmam himself is now on the dole and claiming benifits,funny old world 🙄

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  34. I don’t know… I’m still not entirely convinced on Pardew. I think he talks too much in the media, frankly.

    Maybe I’m just being niggly and still irritated because I liked Hughton so much.

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  35. Menez would be a brilliant signing, on a par with the Ben Arfa deal in my opinion. Really hope Enrique stays, although if he’s not 100% committed then I’d rather have a player a little bit worse who IS. a 100% committed and settled Jose would be best all round though!

    Am non-plussed on the whole N’Zogbia deal, He’s definately the right standard of player we need, but is he a mercenary who is merely looking for yet another launch pad to a team playing Europa/CL football, after it seems to have gone downhill at Wigan? I suspect so. Not the sort of attitude we need.

    I’d rather see us strip out all the deadwood (Best, Perch, Ranger, Lovenkrands, Campbell, RTaylor, Guthrie) and bring in 3-4 of the highest quality signings we’re able to attract (like Menez) and then pitch some of the kids in than to see us buy in the likes of Marvin Martin or Seb Larrsson… both of whom are good players but are only top 6-7 quality when on tip-top form, not week in week out like Ben Arfa, Enrique and Nolan.

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