How many more do we need through the door?

Jobey07 146 Comments

Could he be our next number nine?
After a good active start to the summer I’m feeling pretty optimistic about next season, but with a lot of money left in the “pot” I was just wondering what other positions we actually needed to cover.

At the end of last season the positions which many people were asking after were wingers and forwards and so far this window we’ve brought in one of each, for the combined fee of nothing. I know there will have been some exchanging of money for signing on fees and agent fees but nevertheless we’ve still made some shrewd moves which is something I like to see.

I know some people will be worrying about the fitness situation of both Marveaux and Ba, but they’ve passed our medicals and they’re both confident of their fitness, so that’s enough for me. There are reports that Ba’s contract is heavily incentivised with goals and appearances a factor which is also a clever move and if we’re worried about Marveaux I’d expect very much the same for him.

So, where else needs strengthening? In my opinion we need a winger, a striker and a midfielder to replace Nolan.

The one striker has to be a quick and clever finisher, for example a younger and better Lovenkrands. The player rumoured is Erdinc and according to the papers today he’s nearing a move to Newcastle. Erdinc hasn’t been so clinical this season but in previous seasons he’s got himself goals, and with our service I’d like to think he could score 10-15 a season at least.

Who do we need on the wing? I’m happy with either of our reported targets. We have rumoured interest in both Tranquillo Barnetta and Charles N’Zogbia. Barnetta is apparently set to sign for Newcastle for a fee around the £5 million mark. That would be a good signing and would give us another much needed winger and another string to our bow when it comes to going forward. I also wouldn’t be complaining if we went and bought both, but I’d be surprised.

Another man through the door needs to be our replacement for Nolan, this one I’m not really sure on. We’ve been linked with Craig Gardner, he’s a decent player and I wouldn’t be too upset signing him, but he’s not really anything special or different. We’ve also been linked with Blaise Matuidi for a fee of around £10 million pounds, which would sure please the money counters. Matuidi is a great player but I feel he’d do a similar job to Tiote, he could be his cover, but do you spend £10 million on cover?

I also saw quotes from Alan Pardew a couple of days ago now saying he’d like to bring in three strikers. One of them was obviously Demba Ba, but after that he wants two more with one of them possibly being Erdinc. I don’t really know who the other would be, but I’m not going to moan about signing another striker* as everybody loves a goal scorer. *as long as it’s not Emile Heskey.

After the signings in these positions I feel we’d be looking to spend a small amount of money on up and coming youngsters who could possibly play a bit part role or be substitutes. These may be similar to the acquisition rumoured early on this summer of Mehdi Abeid, not big names now but they could do a job.

Also if we were to lose anybody I would expect direct replacements for them in the squad. In my opinion Barton has already been replaced with Cabaye, but Nolan still needs to be replaced and Enrique will need to be replaced if he goes as Neil Taylor starting the season at left back wouldn’t be ideal.

Obviously I don’t know what Pardew is going to do, but this is what I’d like him to do and if it happens next season we could not just have a decent team but have a decent squad which could challenge for a top half league position and be competitive in cup games. Here’s to hoping!

So, with Cabaye, Ba, Marveaux done and Taylor on the brink who else do we need to bring in?

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About Jobey07

Life long NUFC Fan. Living in Nottingham. http://twitter.com/Jobey07 HWTL

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146 thoughts on “How many more do we need through the door?”

  2. Has anyone seen martin samuels comments on the daily mail;

    an utter disgrace saying in effect the reason nolan left was because we arent a big club and cant hold on to our players!
    what tosh he left because of money simple he is thinking about his pension fund which is in the bag;

    Toonsy possible thread this …. 🙄

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  3. TOONSY aye talk about us buying iffy players,red nose dropped a right one with him,like you i never rated him one bit,how much was he 18mil seems to come to mind 🙄

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  4. Hargreaves is a good player, he showed that against Barcelona when he was outstanding despite playing at Right Back a few seasons ago. The problem with him is he is hardly ever fit to play and with our current suqad having more than enough injuries in the past (Ben Arfa, Gosling, Ba, Ameobi, Smith etc.) its something we’d do good to stay away from.

    Regarding Modric, I see so many similarities to that of our stance over Carroll. The problem is NO TEAM can keep an unhappy player, especially if an outrageous bid comes along which is too good to turn down. In the end, he’ll leave Spurs and there’s a good chance Spurs will get something close to the Carroll fee if not more.

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  5. Liam…he’s a fat useless fecker who’s opinion is worth even less than mine and that’s saying something 😀

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  6. Really strong links today with sturridge;

    mate lives in coventry which sturridge used to play for long time ago and he saw his mate the other day and reckons that when he gets back from U21 tournament he is heading to the toon for talks… 😈

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  7. @JJ i am 95% sure Jose Enrique will leave. As for his replacement im not sure maybe AP will let young Ferguson and N.Taylor compete for that position witch isnt a bad idea IMO.

    As for Barton would be nice to keep him but i would ban him from twitter because its realy not doing him any favours dragging our club and our owner threw the dirt like he has done + I think Cabaye looks a better more complete player and alot more professional than JB.

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  11. Aye i agree richie; how he is on a national paper i will never know!

    Bit like micky quinns comments that he is concerned that we are losing the spine of the team; he went about saying it the wrong way but he did make one good point;

    If we are in a relegation battle; the french dont have the best fighting spirit look at the national team; we do need players like barton and harps to keep the spirit alive

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  19. I personally think its going to be a quiet week…..unsuprising with wimbledon on! 😛

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  23. Lol No i am really from N.Ireland 😀 But it is great what that lad has done for our wee country and i am sure he will win alot more majors

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  25. [email protected] 😉

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  30. Re; how many players we need in;

    RB – as competition for simpson not replacement
    LB – Neil Taylor
    LB – Izaguirre – If Enrique leaves or ‘when’
    CM – Forget Matuidi we need a goalscoring midfielder…. Now its a funny one but i actually think Jenas he would be available cheap and he has a good finish; dont think he would come though but think he would be good addition
    RM – Barnetta (seems unlikely we will get N’zog)
    ST – Sturridge
    ST – Erdinc (although not sure of he is good enough)

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  31. How many mins of extra time in that game ffs 😕
    Poor bastuds. Done all the hard work n bleu it at the end.

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  32. Well clearly PSG dont think Erdinc is good enough as they have replaced him, but does that mean he isn’t good enough for us too?
    Dont know much about League1 in France, but if he cant score there, then how’s he gonna fair in the prem ❓
    Just a thought 😕

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  33. I agree BB he only scored 9 apparently and 9 in the premier league is alot harder; then your looking at lovenkrands and ameobi territory.

    I personally think he is not what we need and would be gutted if he came; we could spend 10m on other players. 😐

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  34. Everyone seems to doubt Erdinc and big up Sturridge.

    Personally Erdinc has the better record, is overall is a more complete player at the moment.

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  35. TEAM AGAINST ARSENAL!

    FORSTER

    TAYLOR COLLO ENRIQUE

    CABAYE TIOTE

    GUTIEREZ BARTON MARVEAUX

    BEN ARFA

    DEMBA BA
    SUBS
    KRUL
    SIMPSON
    FEGUSON
    BEST
    VUKIC

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  36. @107 PSG have got some very rich new owners so there are looking to build a france mega team to get into europe and compete for all honours so it looks like he would be a squad player at best if he stayed there.

    So yes i think he is good enough for us he will at pace up top and will anoy the big slow defenders.

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  37. JJ we have all seen sturridge score goals in the premier league and good goals;

    Look at chamakh utter tosh and he was apparently PSG’s best player! i know im not giving the lad a fair crack but im not sure he is worth the risk

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  38. Fair nuff NirishToon, but will he score us goals, cus thats all I’m interested in, n I’m not convinced.
    Have been watching the England u21’s, and nor been impressed by Sturridge either.
    Whats that saying about a cows @rse and a banjo ❓

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  40. Stuff all those strikers lets break the bank for Rondon or falcao; they are great players and young

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  41. chamakha ddnt play for psg…anyway are league is poor…its all about fitness and if u have that. .goals are not are problem…look at are crap forward line…they alll scored goals…lastb season…chamakha scored goals at the start…and when van got fit..he didnt get a look in..

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  45. A good read that Batty, but he got it wrong when he said ashley would open his wallet :mrgreen:
    Could be right about tugboat tho. He didn’t have to leave and wasn’t pushed/forced out. He had 2 yrs left on his contract ffs.
    👿 👿
    I do hope it backfires on the greedy [email protected] 😆

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  46. Just seen a vid of the Newcastle vs Chelsea game. Pardew and Drogba getting all chummy on the sideline i think that surely means we are in for him 😀 Oooh a man can dream

    But serious out of all the strikers we are being linked with Sturridge is the best looking one can score goals in the PL very young think he is only 22

    I dont think we will go for both Erding and Sturridge or maybe we get Erding in and then get Sturridge on loan with an option to buy. Again a man can dream 😉

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  48. One good thing about getting a new striker in, is that they can’t be any worse than what we currently have…
    So pretty much anything would be an improvement.

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  49. Matuidi – £10 million
    Erding – £8 million
    Barnetta – £6 million
    Izaguirre/M’bengue – if Jose leaves.

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  50. @25 i used in the pot cause that’s the phrase people have been saying.

    And alright, we shouldn’t trust the clubs medical or what the player says himself and just make a stupid judgement with no inside view, tool.

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  52. Yeah it all depends on who’s going out really…I wouldn’t mind us just bringing in Erdinc if we to hold onto Best and Shola-but if we’re booting Best out then we need to find another striker.

    Same as left back,Taylor is all well and good, but we need experience if he’s outgoing.

    And then same as what’s said in the article really, another winger and possibly another midfielder in the mould of say-Stephen Ireland?

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  54. I really think it would be unfair on best if we sold him; again another one of hughtons buys did come good; he didnt make many mistakes

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  55. Nice article jobey; if you write that eloquently in your exams you should do well!

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  56. [email protected] 😉

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  58. I don’t see too much of a problem with Martin Samuel’s comments – the Mail may be a rag but he tends to be spot on. I think he is here – he is simply saying that selling Nolan etc might be an indication that the board are not showing enough ambition to drive us forward.

    This is fair observation and not maliciously made, though I hope by the end of the summer, an inaccurate one.

    Time will tell, and I for one, am excited to be along for the ride.

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  59. I agree with JJ and Craig on this. If it was as easy as just buying up loads of talented players and sticking them on the pitch, they’d all be doing it. What we’re doing here is putting together a high-risk team that may have no spirit, co-ordination or staying power. Worse still, we’re producing a team that I, personally, will have trouble finding the will to genuinely support in the same way I did our boys last season.

    I’m hoping that we’re just seeing phase 1, and that phase 2 will be more about plugging the last gaps and cementing what’s left of our core team, i.e. keeping as many of the likes of Colo, Barton, Jonas and Jose as possible without being held to ransom.

    Oh, and Zog can go play with the traffic as far as I’m concerned.

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  60. I see what Martin Samuel’s saying, but I think his interpretation is incorrect. I think the board have drawn a line in the sand beyond which no player piss-take will pass, and Nolan wouldn’t go back behind it. It doesn’t show a lack of ambition; quite the opposite – it shows a strategy for getting back among the elite, but in a sustainable way.

    Doesn’t mean it’ll work mind – but I think that is what the loss of Nolan really shows.

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  61. @Newkie Would you realy want stephen Ireland back? Dont think we need another AMC need another 1 or 2 wingers right sided of course and that would keep good competitive rotation going. what RW would you like? i think piati looks a cracker wee player but not sure if he is a winger or a central player.

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  62. I dont think anyone can doubt what nolan has done for the club but to give him a contract until he is 34 is crazy hes not the most mobile even now!

    He left for money there is no other reason; he was the captain of newcastle a hero for scoring a hattrick against the unwashed!
    what drives a man to leave for a lower league ….oh money 🙄

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  63. That Aussie bloke must have run off with the Poster Of The Pre-Season trophy already – consistantly good stuff from that man

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  65. The only problems i have with Samuels comments are his usual wham arse licking, Nolan did not go there for potential or ambition but money and what a gamble on their part if the dont come up he will be on the transfer list before the sun sets on the last day of the season.

    And the laughable quote about us losing our best midfield player, Fcuk me has he watched us these last two seasons Guthrie outshone nolan in the championship and Barton and Tiote have this season, His goals were vital and im sad to see him leave but bar goals and pointing he offered virtually nothing,

    If these lads can give us more pace, energy, technique and help us retain possession i will be happy…

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  66. @N.Irish Toon
    I think as Jobey said in the article, Cabaye is hear to sit slightly deeper in the true Barton role,and Matuidi would be similar to Tiote and if bought possibly used in a similar way to the Essien/Mikel partnership. I think to replace Nolan then yes we need an AMF like Ireland because technically with this lot we don’t have an out and out one-HBA is playing behind the striker which you can count, but Ireland would allow us options incase we can’t break through during games, and would give us some rotational ability.

    As far as wingers go-I’d just take N’zog and put him on the right and give him all the freedom to drift in, if he prefers the left then I’d switch him with Marveux who also likes to cut in and might suit the right wing fine, or Jonas obviously.

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  67. @Newkie
    I think im picturing different tactics than you im thinking 4-2-3-1 with Tiote and cabaye as the 2 and Marveux/Jonas at lw HBA at amc and N’zogbia at rw would be a great midfield

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  68. [email protected]……we will not get another mid fielder chip in with 12 goals this season. the entire team we had is being ripped appart ffs. and what did AP say… we need to keep our best players, our core… blah blah… how can anyone really listen to a word he says. do you think we will get any other team in the whole of the Uk ripping out the entire spine of the team in one foul swoop?

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  70. @143
    Not every team has a spine of slow overpaid players that whinged about the fat man at every chance they got. About the 12 goals we have a decent striker in Ba and and whoever else we can get in + our new look midfield is full of pacey flairey players wich im sure will get more goals and assists than last seasons midfield did.

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  71. I am seeing alot of threads/rumours about simpson going to Villa. Dont think we have been linked with any RB yet.

    Who would you guys like at RB?

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