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. lol who have a total disregard for an alleged speed camera or a little old lady.

    too right troy, you have a heart as well as a sexy *** 😆

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  2. I’ve just re-read his crusade letter to the journo, it get’s me every time. 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆

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  3. I’d take Bassong back if he took a reduced wage, was willing to backup STaylor and Collo (when fit), and if ‘arry sold him on the cheap. Of course, there is a better chance of me lining up in central defense vs. Norwich

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  4. anyway nobby, how long is your lunch break? 😆

    can believe youve destroyed the myth, the legend of Troy. I quite liked my hairy-assed bearded image. now I see a pretty boy dishing out opinions!! doesnt feel right 😥

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  5. No thanks. He had 1 good season, got himself a big money move and pay rise, then stopped trying. Another mercenary. Would honestly rather give Remi Streete an early chance than waste club resources on that ****.

    We only need one half decent centre half this January. There will be plenty of free options in the summer provided our excellent scouting system gets out there early 😛

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  6. next years starting defence

    Santon; Saylor; Kadar; Pieters

    back-up
    CB Willo & new Carr Special
    FB Tavernier & Ferguson
    Utility Perch & Raylor

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  7. @big dave

    troy you need to raise your security level..
    too late m8, Im outside his house noo al bondaged up 😯

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  8. Mark – let’s just says it’s been a slow day today.

    If you google ‘nobby newcastle’ a load of solano stuff comes up. so there you have it…. i’m really nolberto solano. i’m off to play me trumpet and play football till i’m 104.

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  9. oooh I like a bit of rough n tumble. as long as he wears those leather pants on his profile pic.. they were leather werent they Troy or vulcanised rubber? 😆

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  10. @Rodzilla

    Im nearly there””.. can just see his balcony, tough climbing with this suit on. It was the one with the union jack flag hanging over the side, 7th floor?.. wont be long troy, get yer pants on 😆

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  11. StevP@53 it Toon wages were £47.5 million in 2009/10 (Championship season) and £71.1 million the last year in Premier league prior to relegation. Our total turnover was £52.4 million in 2009/10 and £86.1 million the previous season. Wages/turnover was 90.6% in 2009/10 and 82.6% in 2008/9.
    We are a long way off the top 5 or 6 when it comes to turnover and the wages we can afford.
    Latest estimate I seem to remember was wages were thought to be about 60% of turnover for last season

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  12. prem – i’m a comedy genius

    i’m also super intelligent, drop-dead-gorgeous, have an amazing personality, rock hard bod and i’m a bronze god. 😉

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  13. 3hourswasted, and apparently there is an 80% correlation between total wage bill & league position.

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  14. ….ganin a bit haywire this post Toonsy 😆

    I blame it on Nobby for turning a debate on our defensive cover crisis into a discussion on Delia’s ladygarden.

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  15. @nobby
    i’m also super intelligent, drop-dead-gorgeous, have an amazing personality, rock hard bod and i’m a bronze god. no.. thats Troy i believe, youre just a pretender now..

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  16. “It is the ability to take a joke, not make one, that proves you have a sense of humor.” 😉

    Les Kellet 1975

    (RIP Grandad) 🙁

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  17. get him in on loan with option to buy like we did with arfa. Young powerful cb with prem experience. good business if we secured him permanently for 4/5 million.

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  18. Toonsy said: 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?

    wow toonsy that just doesnt make sense (and you talk more sense than you dont)

    id love it if colo or talys come back and cant get in the team because a cb was playing so well that they could not be dropped. End of the day we are NUFC, are massive club imo and being a massive the club the two points should be true;

    1)no player should have an automatic place in starting 11

    2) we should MORE THAN 2 class CB,s. Its a minimum requirement FOR A CLUB LIKE OURS to have 3 top prem players at CB in case **** happens

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  19. @112 – I agree entirely, but let’s get a bit real here. From a fan perspective I understand your point entirely and I agree 100%

    What about the player perspective(which I put in the paragraph below which you didn’t quote). Would Bassong be seriously happy to sit on the sidelines? Would Colo? Would Taylor?

    I doubt that.

    Only the big hitters can afford that luxury as they have more games each season and can share the playing time around a bit as they have Europe and longer cup runs to consider. Plus they’ll pay more which tends to buy a bit more patience.

    I’d love us to have four internationals at CB but it just isn’t going to happen.

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  20. no he’s just warming up his sausage roll in her bakers oven 😆

    see troy if it wasnt for me telling toonsy to give you another chance for abusing (apparently) 😉 an author on here a few weeks ago I would never had seen you in your leather undies and boots.. wish I had of kept my mouth shut nu 😆

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  21. P.S.Not saying that we don;t need another CB, just that people expecting a third or fourth experienced Premier League centre-back may be a little disappointed in the end.

    The way I see it as follows:

    Colo – Captain. Automatic starter.
    Tayls – Took his chance after injury to Williamson.
    Willo – Will wait for his chance.

    Then beyond that we should be looking at younger,promising players like Kadar who will happily wait on the fringe for a chance.

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  22. Troy – It doesn’t matter who we think we’ll get to replace Tiote if he does indeed end up needing replacing. Who is to say anyone will know him anyway? I’d put money on it being another Tiote type player where people react the same as most did when we signed him, ie, “who the **** is that” 🙂

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  23. @toonsy @114 totally agree m8.

    thats why I dont believe you have to have 4-5 decent centerbacks. 3 will do with a couple of back-up players. especially on the wages we offer.

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  24. Toonsy did the post numbers on the mob site fuk things up the last time ?
    As they would be dead handy if it would work, just something to think about while your playing with your knob 😆

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  25. I apologise to all that I have offended today. I shall retire to the shadows.

    Please do not axe me toonsy. The Devil makes work for idol thumbs and for the 2nd day running… i’ve done nish.

    I have no sense of humour really, Troy is correct, you have a better sense of humour if you can take a joke than dish them out.

    One day someone came up to me and called me ‘big nose’ for a laugh. I didn’t like it. I was crying inside but no one could tell for the screaming.

    There’s always someone, somewhere with a big nose who knows who’ll trip you up and laugh when you fall.

    S.P.Morrissey

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  26. toonsy its a chicken and egg debate. having 3 class cbs minumim will maybe helpt to push us into europe where you said the ‘big hitters’ can afford to rotate.

    i.e:

    spurs 5 years ago wernt any better than us?? but in recent years they signed gallas, woodgate, kaboul, bassong etc to add to king and dawson etc. Why? Not because they can play all of them, but their chairman and manager had hindsight and AMBITION because they see themselves as a big club!!

    And where did it get them? cl quarter finals and they are currently challenging for league title and in a position to say to bassong, ‘ya your not good enough for our squad!’

    with that mentality you have above toonsy we will be foreva alsorans (is that spelt right?)

    and NUFC is not an alsoran club!!

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  27. @mark

    Why do you think Toonsy let’s me back on?
    He has an underwear fetish! 😛

    Albeit, the ones I’m wearing havent been washed since my Grandad Les Kellet won the world wrestling championship belt in 1967. 😯

    The smell of raw sweat is what makes them special. I always wear them for weddings, funerals and match days. 😛

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  28. @toonsy BAN HIM!! BAN HIM!!

    until we see a pic of nobby in his rubber thong i think he should be banned. can we vote on it pls toonsy 😀

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  29. @Troy Stavers lol I might have to invest in a pair myself. I’m sure ann Summer did them last time i was, wor lass was in 😯

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  30. Sadly Mark my rubber thongs are in thr dry cleaners at the minute. I’ll be down west denton morrisons next week to pick them up.

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  31. and to add to this point since i mentioned spurs if we accept a bid of 20 million for tiote il be vexed.

    that little club spuds were able to tell romain and his rubles to F RIGHT OFF when they offered 40 MILLION for modric!!

    why? ambition. modric, was upset, he handed in a transfer request. he said his head wasnt right

    where are they now? and how is modric playing

    i rest my case

    LETS START TO KEEP OUR BEST PLAYERS EH FAT MIKE, see where it gets us. Just as an experiment for a couple years..

    if it doesnt work Mike then carry on selling like a pimp in amsterdam

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  32. @nobby wow, stalking has just got a bit closer to home.. i live like 500metres away from there. 😯 I didnt see rubber thongs in there..

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  33. “and NUFC is not an alsoran club!!”

    Hmm. Would that be based on our recent history of lots of trophi…… Oh, maybe not.

    Looking at Spurs the way you are doing is like saying Tottenham have signed all of them players at once to mount a challenge for it all when that just isn’t the case.

    Five years ago they started with King and Kaboul. Then they qualified for Europe and signed Dawson and Bassong. Then they qualified for the Champions League and signed Gallas. Plus bear in mind they have King who can;’t actually train as his knees are so ropey and you can perhaps see why they have so much cover.

    And regardless, even if we did have three top class CB’s (we have two) what difference would it make to the position we find ourslevs in now exactly? They’d all still be injured would they not?

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  34. Troy, regarding a replacement for Tiote, looking at Enrique’s replacement being already here in the guise of Ryan Taylor, I’d imagine Tiote (should he go)’s replacement is also already here, in Guthrie.

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  35. ROD – on paper (or screen) that sounds good but we need more of a defensive midfielder… i see guthers as more attacking… i know he’s got a good tackle in him but he doesn’t put himself about like the general. 😉

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  36. I believe Willo and Perch should be given their opportunity to grasp playing alongside Colo. They have until January to prove they are up to the job.

    Tho, I’ve already wrote Perch off as a right back he might play better at CH .

    He has to improve from Saturdays performance.

    That does not mean we shouldn’t be looking to buy a new CH in January .

    It requires a big squad and we haven’t got one in terms of quality.

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  37. Arry sold Kaboul to Portsmouth, then got him back on the cheap, King isnt trusted and Bassong was an obvious mistake. Gallas was a good signing on a free (i think).

    Its only been Dawson who’s been the mainstay, who I dont actually think is better than Saylor or Colo.

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  38. But we have three, no? Grated Williamson isn’t the greatest, but he can do a job. They are all injured.

    I’ve never said we don’t need more, just that we don;t have the bargaining hand with players to get them to be happy to be backup. Sorry, but 50,000 fans who say they have a massive club is **** all compared to an extra 20k a week 😉

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  39. Colo, Saylor and Willo is enuf. we just need more versatility in the leftBk/rightBlk positions, Pieters should help if available.

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  40. Right… i’m clocking out – I think tomorrow we should have an attacking debate – this defense crisis has smoked out the fact that nothing is set in stone with regards to attacking – we need more goals! laters munchkins.

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  41. Toonsy said “Grated Williamson isn’t the greatest, but he can do a job.”

    toonsy it pains my heart to see that, really does. Do you know how thousands of pro footballers globally would give anything to play for NUFC? yes we may not be able to attract thiago silva, lucio, terry or phil jones but gollie we should be having better than ‘he can do a job’

    thats what teams say on a sunday morning when you bring a player down you dont know – not to play in fromt of 52,000 at the might ST.JAMES PARK!!!!!

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  42. i suggest we bid for cahill. 8 mill and we have him due to his contract situation

    LETS SHOW INTENT AND AMBITION

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  43. Hang on, so now we abandon the philosophy that brought us Cabaye, Tiote, Ba etc etc, all of whom are good players I’ll add, because we’ve suffered a few injuries?

    Anyway, you’ve inspired me to do an article 🙂

    I’m going to look at clubs of our level, by that I mean clubs aiming for the the top seven like Villa, Everton etc and see how their squad stack up for depth. I’d put money on either of those clubs plus a lot of others struggling and being in the same position as us if they lost three central defenders to injury.

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  44. WHHHOOOOAAAAAAAAAA TOONSY COME BACK THIS SECOND AND STOP ARTICLING!!!!!

    my mother always told me not to compare because you can always do better than you think 😆

    EVERTON – crisis. NO MONEY, they couldnt even afford a loan fee for drenthe and had to get yakubu off books – it would be unfair to compare to them

    VILLA – have a good YT setup so you have to bear that in mind also. likes of ciaran clark and bannan and albrighton are better than what you may give credit for

    you may continue..

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  45. Are Bannan and Alrighton defenders then? Must have missed that like… And who know what our young lads may turn out like?

    Everton are just as skint as we are. There is no difference between not having money and not spending it like Everton, or having a billionaire owner who won’t spend anything like us. The balance sheets may read different, but the willingness/ability to spend is precisely the same. Besides, they;ve been skint for years and have still managed to dabble around the top seven pretty much every year.

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  46. Villa’s central defenders: Dunne, Collins, Clark

    Players who can play at CB: Cuellar

    Lose three of them they’ll be relying on out of position players and young lads.

    Everton’s central defenders: Distan, Jagielka, Heitinga

    Players who can play CB: Fellaini.

    Lose any of them three they’ll be in the same boat as Villa and us.

    We’re no different 😯

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