Newcastle were interest in the Malian strike in the summer and were believed to be in negotiations with his French club Sochaux.
But with Maiga being the huffy type he wasn’t happy with how things were going so decided to go on strike with the hope of forcing the move.
In the end we didn’t sign Maiga, which put the striker in a position of awkwardness in terms of his current club. He’d already been in the press telling all and sundry that he didn’t want to be there and, as I’m sure you can imagine, he isn’t exactly the fans’ flavour of the month despite his goalscoring form. You’d think that he’d learn from that and keep his gob shut wouldn’t you?
Apparently not…
Maiga has once again been speaking about his future, and once again he’s informed the world that he is still looking to move away from the club.
“I have had enough of being booed by supporters right now, but anyway it does not stop me scoring goals for the club and making them happy,” Maiga told skysports.com.
“I scored a double for them again at the weekend. I had two chances on Saturday against Toulouse, two goals, just to thank them.”
It certainly sounds as though he doesn’t want to be at his current club and I sense a bit of sarcasm in his comments in honesty. He needs to be careful however as there is still no guarantee of a club coming in for him in January, especially if he continues to show a petulant attitude.
If you go by weekend reports in the local press then Newcastle are still interested and are looking to reignite a move over the winter although they could, apparently, switch to other targets if they needed to. Maiga, however, remains open to a move to the North-East.
“Newcastle? They are a very good club,” said Maiga. “I will not finish my career in Sochaux if I am scoring every week – that is the reality of football. I have not invented that!”
“At the moment I am here and scoring goals. I do not know when the transfer window opens what there will be. It depends also on the club, but in the near future I want to ply my trade in another top league. It is a genuine ambition, I will accept being booed for that!”
My message to Maiga is simple really – don’t burn any bridges at your current club. With an attitude like yours it’s no wonder that the Sochaux fans are on your back.
On a personal note I’m not entirely sure that I want him at Newcastle. Obviously our scouts have seen something in him and I trust them 100%, but I do question his attitude. It seems to be rather large considering his fairly average goal return of 36 goals in 144 club games. That’s 1 goal every 4 games for the stat lovers out there.
I also question the wisdom of signing another striker who will be missing for the African Cup of Nations over the winter of 2012. Mali currently top their qualifying group and play the final game of their qualification campaign against bottom team Cape Verde at the weekend. If they win that they are through which means that we’d be without the services of Maiga and the rest of the African contingent for nigh on two months.
Also remember that the format is being changed so that the competition is hosted in “odd” years meaning that there will be another African Cup of Nations tournament just a year later. For that reason I’d prefer a European striker as at least we wouldn’t have to wave goodbye to our entire strikeforce for four months over two seasons.
Maiga seems keen still, but I’m not. Where do you sit on this matter?
Didn’t know about that set up for the African Cup of Nations 😯
AndrewT(Quote)
It’s to stop it from clashing with World Cup years basically.
toonsy(Quote)
Toonsy:
African Nations Cup is Jan 21 – Feb 12, 2012 so it is coming up soon and is about 3 weeks rather than 2 months.
GS(Quote)
That’s assuming I looked up the right website, ‘coz I thought it was soon, but I have been known to be wrong.
GS(Quote)
All good points re: attitude and nationality Toonsy. I think we should be looking at alternatives that hail from closer to home. He is making a *** out of himself with all this wanting to move business. Ifhe lets his footy do his talking for him, there will be no shortage of interest from teams. He does not need to p*ss off his supporters and employers in the process.
Shamrock(Quote)
It’s Jan 2012 then another one in 2013 then every 2 years after that 😉
richietoon(Quote)
……oh and I don’t want him, but what do I know
richietoon(Quote)
Just finished ploughing the fields…
Batty’s missus is now well pleased… 😆 😉
Not sure I like Maiga’s attitude. Seems to be another who thinks he is better than he actually is. But I suppose time will tell.
JJ(Quote)
He sounds like trouble, but then again Benny was causing his old club plenty of trouble. 😀
Big Dave(Quote)
GS
October 4, 2011 at 08:46
“African Nations Cup is Jan 21 – Feb 12, 2012 so it is coming up soon and is about 3 weeks rather than 2 months.”
Remember that most players will be away before the start of the competition for a couple of weeks doing training and preparation and whatever.
toonsy(Quote)
Much rather we went for Martin at Sochaux although probably way out of our price range.
Don’t know why peole make such a big deal about the ACN. In reality most teams are back home after 3 weeks.
Nick D(Quote)
Toonsy @10:
Agreed. There is also the chance they will return sooner if their team gets knocked out.
Who do we have there? Only Ba and Tiote?
I am worried about Tiote as we don’t seem to have a natural experienced replacement and he will inevitably miss time with a suspension or two.
GS(Quote)
Now that I look at it, the African Nations Cup is a rediculous set up. They are going to have 3 tournaments in 4 years – 2012, 2013 and 2015, with a European Championship and World Cup to play as well.
The fact that the African Nations Cup is every 2 years in the middle of the European season is stupid enough, but these changes are moronic.
Why every 2 years and not every 4 like every other international tournament?
GS(Quote)
GS – True. Looking at it, Mali don’t have a great history of progression, like Ivory Coast or Senegal or Egypt etc.
toonsy(Quote)
See that pub land lady has won the right to use foreign networks to show 3pm Kick offs
Interesting to see how this all affects sky and maybe in the longer term ground attendance, will be great for those of us who can’t always get to games these days
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-15162241
Halftimebovril(Quote)
Ivory Coast have a cracking team now. They will progress far.
Mali too, have some fine players. So I’d expect quarter final stages at least.
JJ(Quote)
…got N’Zogbia written all over him. Give him a year in a black and white shirt and he’ll be doing exactly the same with us, pining for Arsenal. I wouldn’t touch him with someone else’s barge pole.
Bovril, yeah she’s taking it to high court, don’t think she’s won it quite yet. Ridiculous fees though, I’ve heard £500-1000 a month. Sky need stringing up. The fkers charge me not far off 40quid just for Sky Sports and ESPN.
Rodzilla(Quote)
Yes Rodz I think you ae right.
Shamrock(Quote)
Mark Douglas is having a bet with another journalist that Maiga WILL be joining us. He said he’s ‘almost certain’.
dan4toon(Quote)
36 goals in 144 club games.
—————
He’s a young player, so I imagine a lot of those appeareances were as a sub. He had 19 in 40 last season. But I do worry about losing too many key players to the African Cup.
This public dust up with his club won’t help as it will surely alert a lot of clubs…
MDS(Quote)
I think thats the whole idea MDS. putting himself out there for the highest bidder.
I hope Pardew ***** him off for his attitude. We can do better imho 😕 😕
Beardsleys Boots(Quote)