Chelsea checking on Cheik?

Chelsea are interested in Ivory Coast midfielder Cheik Tiote, according to Scott Wilson of the Northern Echo.

The Echo believes that Tiote is on a shortlist of replacements for the injured Michael Essien and also claims that an enquiry has been made by the Stamford Bridge outfit with regard to the availability of our midfield general.

Whether or not there is any truth in this remains to be seen, but it will naturally be cause for some concern from fans who will take it as gospel, combine with the fact that every player has a price, and come to the conclusion that Tiote will be gone.

Tiote has a long-term deal to sit on, but as we've seen before it's no guarantee that a player will want to honour it, or that the club will want to honour it for that matter. If the money is right then a deal will be done, but it will have to be good money for us to do a deal. That's pretty much how things seem to work at NUFC these days isn't it?

There are other candidates that Chelsea have lined up as a replacement for Essien. Scott Parker on a one year loan deal is one apparent option, Jack Rodwell is another, and João Moutinho has also been mentioned. Hopefully their new boss will see better options in that lot before looking to Tiote.

We'll see what happens on this one of course, but I would be tempted to use the same approach as I do with all newspaper rumours and treat it with caution. Hopefully it remains a rumour, but if Chelsea do come calling then we could have a problem.

Maybe that is what Didier Drogba and Alan Pardew were shaking hands on back in May?

;) ;) 😆