"Newcastle and Lyon are talking about me" - Aly Cissokho

Have we found the transfer saga of this transfer window? It's certainly starting to look that way isn't it?

This time around it seems to involve a long-standing transfer link in the form of Aly Cissokho. The Lyon defender has been linked with Newcastle for some time, but there have been conflicting reports of interest, medicals, discussions and allsorts.

Earlier on today I posted an article containing quotes attributed to a representative of Aly Cissokho who goes by the name of Ali Barat. He seemed quite dismissive of Newcastle and insisted that no agreement had been reached between the two clubs.

However the player himself has now admitted that a deal could be in the offing and insists that he is just waiting for the green light from Lyon to allow him to talk to Newcastle.

"I am waiting for the green light from Lyon," he told Sky Sports. "I am a Lyon player and if they agree a fee with a club, I will then talk to that club."

"But nothing is done yet and I have not been to Newcastle for a medical. Newcastle and Lyon are talking about me, but there are other teams interested as well."

Intriguing.

Whether or not there is genuine interest on our part or whether we are just being used as a name to extract some serious bidders remains to be seen but there does seem to be something there. Mind you, there was something there with Mevlut Erding and Modibo Maiga yet nothing came of it in the end and this one could well end up going the same way.

One thing I'm pretty certain on though, is the fact that if (and it's still a big if) we sign Cissokho we'll see Danny Simpson heading away from St James' Park. His contract saga has rolled on too long and we've already had warning from Alan Pardew suggesting that if Simpson didn't sign then he'd be disposed of. Sounds clinical doesn't it?

That's life... That's business...