Bassong set to be offered back to Newcastle?

A Tyneside return for Bassong?
Tottenham Hotspur misfit Sébastien Bassong is set to be offered back to Newcastle United in January if reports in the local press are to be believed.

The 25-year-old made his name in England with us after we picked him up from Metz for a fee of just £500,000 at the start of our relegation season. Inevitably that was his only season with us as he scampered off to Tottenham for £8m as we slipped down to the Championship.

However he was our best player in that ill-fated campaign according to the fans who voted him our Player of the Season. Whether that is anything to actually be proud of is a subject for debate however. Was he really good? Or did he look better being the best of what was a pretty bad bunch?

The need for defensive reinforcements will ensure that we get linked with many different defenders over the coming weeks and months. Bassong is not the first and he won’t be the last, but he is perhaps the most interesting as we already have an idea of what he can do in the Premier League.

I probably wouldn’t make a move for the Cameroon defender. It would be easy to say that he deserted a sinking ship when the going got tough but my opinion isn’t based on that. I just don’t think a deal for Bassong is something that the club would be interested in, for a number of reasons.

The first one is that Tottenham don’t sell players on the cheap. Daniel Levy has shown time and time again that he will only sell for the right price and that price is likely to be somewhere close to the £8m he paid for the player just two-and-a-half years ago.

Secondly Bassong’s move to Tottenham would have come with a payrise no doubt. I’m unsure what his pay package is but I’m pretty certain that it will be more than what he would be offered at Newcastle.

Finally, look at the bigger picture. Signing someone like Bassong would be ideal as they can play from the word go, but what happens when Fabricio Coloccini returns? Then when Steven Taylor returns?

Those two have proved to me that they are our first choice pairing in the heart of defence and Bassong would have a battle on his hands trying to stay in the team when they are both fit. Would Bassong be up for that battle? Past history would suggest that he wouldn’t be…

Whilst we do need defenders, I wouldn’t think we’d end up with this particular defender for any number of the reasons outlined above. If we are to get one in then I expect it will either be on loan or another Graham Carr special.

Next rumour please…

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.

167 thoughts on “Bassong set to be offered back to Newcastle?

  1. fair enough

    STILL THINK WERE POTENTIALLY BIGGER THAN EVERTON AND VILLA AND SHOULD ACT AS SUCH

    just my own stoopid geordie opinion

    pisses me off that a club like spurs are challenging. 35k fans. we have a massive fan base (to me that determines size of club, ala sheff wed are bigger than wigan athletic) and are relying on mike williamson and james perch…blimey

    il start you off;

    villa – collins, dunne, clark, cuellar (curtis davies on loan?)
    everton, distin, jakielka, hetinga

    i rest my case

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  2. i agree toonsy – even if man utd lose three theyl be struggling, we have sever injuries at moment.

    im just comparing our strenght in depth. imo we have nomone after tayls and colo, whereas villa and everton have the likes of clarke and heitinga.

    you cant put williamson the same post code as these players

    and for my club that is not good enough

    thats all im saying

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  3. 7th place liverpool; coates (uruguay international), agger, carragher, skrtel, kelly
    8th place stoke: huth, woodgate, shawcross, wilson, upson

    you staring to see picture??

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  4. But the club know it’s not good enough aswell. They’ve said, well Pardew said anyway, that they wanted a defender but it just didn’t happen.

    Kelly isn’t a CB. He is a RB.

    I’ve always said we needed more. I was never aware that I said any different. What I’m saying, which you’ve now also said yourself, is that if any team lost three CBs they’d struggle so cheers for finally agreeing with me 🙂

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  5. …Toonsy, with the exception of Arsenal, Chelsea, Man City, Man U, Stoke and Spurs who all seem to have a decent amount of obvious CB cover.

    Plus, most other teams have at least 8 defenders to jiggle about when needed. We have 6.

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  6. wouldnt want bassong back,and as toonsy said, any club would struggle losing three central defenders,its just pure bad luck the way its come about,however the team spirit is still there ,the midfield,will step up to the mark and help them out,and i would play best and ba up front,as they can help defend set pieces with theyr’e height and strength,think we can get a good few points in our next four games,and still be in top six in the new year

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  7. Isn’t Cuellar naturally a CB who has been played at RB? 😉 …….so basically we all agree we need a CB, it’s not just what sort of quality would be happy to sit on the bench or indeed how much they’d want, it’s more how much Ashley would be happy to pay a player to be a bench warmer and as we all know the answer is… not alot 🙁

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  8. We already scouted a replacement for Tiote in the summer – Blaise Matuidi.

    Pardew was purring about him back then apparently.

    Arguably better than Tiote but has since signed for PSG. Still, if we did sell Tiote for £20m I think we could tempt him with a bid of £10-12m.

    Certainly won’t be the end of the world if Tiote Cheiks out of Toon.

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  9. PREMANDUP
    December 6, 2011 at 14:16
    3hourswasted, and apparently there is an 80% correlation between total wage bill & league position

    Aye there is Prem and I expect there’s an 80% correlation between turnover and league position. The turnover helps you afford the wages – Man U, Arsenal, Spuds Liverpool, Man City and Chelsea all have massively higher turnover than ours. Ashley isn’t prepared to stick any more money in so the club will not be run at a loss like Chelsea & Man City – no chance of us spending similar on wages.

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  10. Thought we couldtalk about Nowich game. 😀
    If shola plays he’ll obviously be captain, but if he doesn’t who do the rest of you think will be in for captain colo? My guesses are either gutierrez or krul, as they’ve the only players in the starting XI that have been here more than a year and a half.

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  11. I think bassong is a cracking prospect and would pay 4mill for him. I don’t blame him for leaving. He was young, perhaps a bit naive and was one of our lowest paid players. Baring in mind he was our player of the season he should have been offered an improved deal. It’s just another example of fatty cashing in at any opportunity. If there is a chance of him coming back as a more mature player / person who has learned a lesson then dirty Harry needn’t even consider mentioning tiote as part of the deal.

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  12. shame tavernier cant come back for two weeks…hope collo isnt out long!!! christ we are very thin in defence

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  13. it Will end up being a deal that see’s krul go to spurs. £10million plus bassong for krul! De gea went to man u for silly money and krul is 10 times better i believe krul to be worth £25million plus. He is still very young and the best keeper in the league at this present time and keepers play until they are 35 years plus

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