This comes as he admitted to The Journal today that he’d been talking with his friend and former Lille team-mate Mathieu Debuchy who, funnily enough, has been linked with a move to us in the last few weeks.
Debuchy can play at right-back or in midfield and has made 209 appearances for Lille since joining the club in 2003. He’s also a regular international colleague of Cabaye and regularly gets called up to the France squad, although only usually as backup to the ageing Anthony Réveillère or Eric Abidal.
On Debuchy,Cabaye said: “I told my friend Mathieu Debuchy he should come here. He said he would love to come to England and Newcastle. He would like to come here!”
“Newcastle now has a big reputation in France. When we play, French TV now shows Newcastle games. They try to show every game and support them.”
However Cabaye, much like us fans, is keen for the squad to be added to rather than lose a big player only to start building again.
“I managed to play in the Champions League with my home town Lille, but it is the same situation here,” said Cabaye. “We need to build a big team – if each year someone else leaves the club it’s going to be difficult. It is really, really important to keep the players to build a big team.”
“I love playing in England, I’m thankful to Newcastle United for giving me the chance to play here. My family feel good here and I would like to stay here for a long time.”
“My goal is to play in Europe again – either the Europa League or Champions League,” Cabaye added. “Newcastle United is on a good way to get that, so I don’t really want to change where I am if I can achieve that here. My other aim is to play in the European Championships with France, which I can do if I’m playing here.”
What about Cabaye’s goals for this season though? Well with seven games left it appears the he is another player who has his eyes set on the prize of European football at St James’ Park.
“I would like to play in both Europa League and Champions League – Champions League will be more difficult, but there are seven games, you never know. I would just like to play in Europe,” he concluded.
It’s good to see that players from within the club are talking about us in a positive light, and that other players are interested in joining us. In a way that can be attributed to the fantastic season we’ve been having.
I’d actually like Debuchy at Newcastle providing he was available for a decent price, which seems harsh on Danny Simpson, but if he isn’t going to sign a new deal then the chances are that he will be leaving in the summer anyway and will need replacing.
It’s perhaps only natural that Cabaye is looking towards his mate also. At the end of the day, Cabaye and Debuchy spent seven years at Lille together so they are bound to have built up a close relationship over that time.
Maybe Cabaye’s eye has already spied Simpson’s replacement?
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117 Comments
cannot really say i know the lad in fact never seen him play,but ime sure carr has run the rule over him,and if he wants to come he must have a idea of the wage limits
Id rather we sign Pieters: we need a natural leftie, He can cover centre half and it looks like its a done deal already judging by his twittering, We should have enough options for right back next season if Simpson sees sense between now and the summer.
Would love Debuchy but like CC said I think we need a natural left footer so Santon can move to right-back.
I seen this morning we’re getting linked with Younes Belhanda from Montpellier. He would be someone that if we were to get it would be like Cisse in January, we would do OK without them but he can really push us on to the next level.
Would cost a fair wack [£10 million?] but a midfield three of Cabaye, Tiote and Belhanda would be unbelievable.
CC i watched pieters play at l/b against england imo he was very poor just hope hes better at c/b he pulled up nee grass for me but it was only one game but a show piece game for him all the same,big doubt in my mind about him in PL
I imagine that Ashley and co will look to France for a large global brand for the next Kit/stadium sponsorship deal. If we are that big over there as suggested, we have to capitalise – Big opportunities lie ahead!
Ice – True he wasn’t great, but he’d also just come back from a long injury and it’s only one game at the end of the day.
Ice… to be fair though Pieters wasn’t long back from injury then.
Toonsy
Pieters is not even in our team and you boys are already making excuses for him
Santon is a technically sound and athletically gifted footballer. However, he is dodgy dodgy dodgy in defence – getting caught out of position and making poor decisions under pressure. He’s a work in progress
a new RB and LB this summer please… and they should go straight into the starting X1. Ideally, one of them needs to be able to fill in at CB too
Aussie…we need to be prepared for the negative boo boys like yourself
Morning chaps, can only be good news that we are being seen as an attractive option for many french players. Interesting article this morning for a change in the DM http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2125810/Newcastle-Talk-Toon-thanks-Mike-Ashleys-rethink.html
Can’t wait for the game today.
No sign of baby Toonsy making an appearance yet?
Ba and Cisse – mates
Krul and Pieters – mates
Cabaye and Debuchy – mates
And I hear that Jonas and Messi are good friends
I personally would prefer simpson to stay, but he’s been offered a contract which financially he is happy with but it’s how it’s paid to him which is the problem I understand.
Simpson has played well this season and knows the league so would be good to go again next season. I also think that the reason for our great start to the season was largely down to having a settled back 4. The article yesterday supported that Simpson has played really well and I don’t see much point in replacing a player playing well with a player who is coming in and starting from scratch, I mean look at how long it is taking for Santon and Oba to settle.
We would loose Simpson for next to nowt and spend a fee on this lad who may take time to settle. If we are capable of sorting a contract for Jonas, Krul and Colo how are we not able to resolve the problems with Simpsons contract
How can you say I am negative Rich
… Pieters will fit right in, coz he is shite and he can join the rest of our shite defensive unit!!
How we have even made it to 5th with those guys is beyond me….. and don’t get me started about buying that Cisse fella and not strengthening our defence during the January transfer window…..
Deb – Nothing yet. Going to be the 15th at the latest though
Danny Simpson will be chuffed to read this?
Having friends in Toon will keep our team together so bring it on Cabeye.
Our team spirit is great so in Pardiola Carr & co we trust.
Ice don’t forget he was only back from an injury

As for this guy tbh I have never heard of him, so I would just have to trust the club on him.
But can’t see Cabaye wanting us to sign a donkey
Twas good to hear Cabaye agreeing with me that we have to keep our players and keep adding to them.
re. Debuchy – judging by his profile and reputation, he’d represent a huge upgrade over Simpson when in possession… question is, can he defend as well as wor Danny?
Any Francophiles out there who’ve seen him in action for Lille/France?
Debuchy is a step up from Simpson. More confortable with the ball, excellent going forward but still a good defender. If I remember correctly, he made both goals for France in their recent victory against Germany.
Agree that a real LB would make more sense though with Santon switching to RB but I doubt Debuchy would cost too much in signing or wages (more than Simmo no doubt but worth it).
It’s all well and good harping on about the great coverage we get in France and it’s true that we’re on live a lot especially in the last few weeks but I still didn’t get a reply to the question I left on the Sports Direct website as to why I couldn’t find a Newcastle top to buy in the Sports Direct Outlet near Paris.
You would think given their owner, they’d at least have 1 or 2 on show alongside the Manure, Chelski, Bottomnal & yes even Scouse Bindippers tops!
“Slim” Mike really is in it now just for the business…
Aussie, I take it all back, you’re a bit more positive than normal there
I’ll say one thing in Simpsons defence…. He very rarely plays an opposition player onside because he isn’t working in with his central defenders.. Ok he is not the most skillful but he reads the game well. I have seen many great full backs getting caught ball watching and in turn playing players on side, you do not see that with Simpson.. I reckon he is copping a fair bit of stick that is unwarranted..
STB – Same over here mate regarding NUFC shirts. Not many places outside of the North East stock.my local JJB and Sports Direct don’t have it in.
End of the day, business is business. If it was my shop I wouldn’t stock something that doesn’t really sell so I can’t blame him for that.
strange like some dont read comments fully on pieters i said it was only “one game”but there you go
Aussie Magpie Fan
April 6, 2012 at 10:07
“I reckon he is copping a fair bit of stick that is unwarranted.”
Like most of our players at some stage
Ice – See, it was only one game
I’m glad you said that Richie, I was thinking of becoming a Motivational Speaker as a profession
Ice…I did read it properly, I was pointing out that he had been out injured for a long time as that “one game” seems to have been enough to place a “big doubt” in your mind
Aussie…you’ll make a fortune
True Toonsy….. Cabaye has only come good since he stopped dropping so deep
Even Troy no longer seems to have his man crush on him any more….
RICHIE theres always a doubt in my mind ime a toon fan after all,been there many times never got there “yet”lol
TOONSY the mrs says monday is B day
Ice its not their fault reading isn’t their main skill
as you said it was only 1 game after he cameback from injury.
I touched on it lastnight but the Europa lge cops a lot of stick but over the last few weeks I have had the chance to watch a good amount of it while working, and I must say there is some real good footie played by some real good teams.
Ice…true, I know what you mean. You never quite got over Shackleton defecting to the scum
Personally I hope Simpson stays! He seems to get a lot of stick but I think he is a good player. Even just thinking about all the times he has cleared off the goal line for us, surely that alone makes him worth his place. The defender I have least confidence in is Williamson. Although he can do some decent defending I think he is too much of a liability with his constant holding and pulling of opponents in the penalty area. At least once every game he deserves a red card and penalty to the opposition! The game against Liverpool my heart was in my mouth about 6 mins into the game when he bundled over Andy Carroll in the box. We were so lucky that game that the decisions went for us (which was a really nice change admittedly and now I know how Man U fans feel
)!
Ice – I hope Sunday. If it is I’ll be calling it Jesus
Dave…Europa is a decent competition imo, certainly once you start getting to the 1/4′s at least. I think you’d have to be mad not to want to see your team in it if the CL is not achievable.
I reckon it’s a chicken and egg question here.
Now that we are so high profile in France with Cabaye, Ben Arfa & co, it makes business sense to give it a go. If there are 1 or 2 on show alongside the “big” clubs in his stores it’s hardly going to ruin him and is giving visibility to the club he owns.
If we do scrape into Europe, I expect to be able to buy one at SD here next season at least.
Back on the football, I do reckon Europe in any form will be critical to keeping the core and Cabaye’s comments about the best players are targeting Ba & Tioté in particular. I personally believe that HBA will also be at a big risk of leaving especially if he performs end of season and uin the Euros.
PSG will be getting a massive overhaul in Summer with Ancelotti being free to buy whoever he wants (or whoever wants to come). They will be in CL and can pay silly money in wages too. Both Ba and HBA are “locals” and could easily be tempted.
A bit negative I know but I suppose years of Newcastle prepares you for the worst, just when things are starting to look rosier. We maybe can survive and compete with one or two key exits (Tioté?) but replacing 3 would be difficult even for our scouting network. As for replacing HBA, you cannot on the budget we have. You need to change the system to something like we were playing beforehand. Not as attractive and probably not good enough for top 5 but top half just about guaranteed.
Simpson = crap on the ball. However he’s generally an excellent defender. As long as criticisms of him are balanced, then they’re fair enough
Toonsy my money’s on the 12th.
Ice – see you’ve dragged yourself back from sunning yourself in Malta – taking a leaf out of Richie’s book.
Shall we start a sweepstake?
So far:
Monday 9th = Icedog’s Mrs
Thurs 12th = Deb
Sun 15th = Me
Toonsy I’m going for Sat 14th!
STB – PSG coming in for any of our french players is always going to be a major pull however depends how much they value playing in the premier league
DAVE @32 your reet man/u got shown the way home mate
I’ll go Fri 13th
I honestly see our transfer budget being quite tight this summer and just think we need to be a bit smart with it. I don’t see the point in spending good money on a player to replace a young player who is playing well. We NEED a LB, we NEED cover at CB and we NEED decent wide men. This is where our efforts should be focused, not looking to buy in mates of our starting 11. If Simmo does go, we would still have Santon, Raylor and Tav for RB cover. We need to get our defence right if we want to progress and LB needs to be our priority first and foremost.
Jill spot on about Willo I said that all along but it seems that after 3wins in a row he is ok now, and we shouldn’t run him down, eventhough he was lucky against Carroll that he didn’t cost us again.
So it shows he still hasn’t learnt that wrestling isn’t allowed in footie, I also said that im 100% sure he will cost us again before the season is over.
Friday 13th
If it’s that date I’ll call it Damien
Big Dave @ 47 I agree
!
GB hows you in great shape i hope, on RICHIE i wouldnt take a leaf oot of his book the only one hes read is the devils advacate
…”“We need to build a big team – if each year someone else leaves the club it’s going to be difficult. It is really, really important to keep the players to build a big team.”
Good words by Cabaye, thoughts echoed by most rational Toon fans, but I can’t help thinking he’ll be getting a psychological kick in the bollocks this summer.
I know it’s speculation, but I’m actually expecting Tiote to leave, and I’d be gobsmacked if he didn’t. Of course if massive offers come in, they’re hard to turn down, but it’d be nice if we said “no” for someone as influential as Mr T.
With regards to this Debushy, yeah fine, come to NUFC, but I’d rather we just spent slowly on what we need most I.E. at least a LB and a CB.
If we get into the Europa League, or heaven forbid, the Champions League this season, I think we’ll struggle massively next year unless we add at least 3 more numbers to our squad.
This summer is gona be interesting. A chance for Fatty to really push us forward. Speculate to accumulate, Fatboy. It’s not all about fast profits. Let’s try a ‘one step forward’ approach now, that’d be nice.
…think today will be a tough one anyway. Fast passing game with both sides scoring, maybe 1-1 or 2-2. Hoping for a win.
HTL!
Toonsy, 15th is the best date of the month to be born, even better if its the 15th July. I’m going for the 8th. I’m also going for a 3-0 to us today, so we can see by tonight how good my predictions are
Big Dave and Jill agree about Williamson. It does my head in how he constantly bear hugs and holds players in the penalty area – he is always a potential catastrophe waiting to happen
Toonsy – will that be Jesus Jnr? … Just people on here keep replying to your posts “Jesus Toonsy, what are you on about” and I’ve read it that many time I just assumed it was your name?!
Ice…
actually the only “books” I read are Razzle, Hustler etc
@50 GD
dave
To be fair to willo that happens a dozen times every match, If you watch cisses header that he missed on sunday from the reverse angle you can see Skertal bearhugging Ba, Williamson was rightly penalised against the mackems but there are plenty of others who do it and get off scot free…
Toonsy – Damien, always reminds me of the scene with Del boy and Rodders, priceless
Toonsy are you watching the game tonight ? If so it will be tonight, if not it will be Sunday.
Deb…..funny you should say that, Toonsy is very like Rodder’s in real life
Thanks for the craic, I’m off to bed now! I’m 5 hours behind UK time so it is about 5.50am for me! Hopefully I’ll be up in time for the game though!
He must be pretty cool then Richie
Stop talking about my Rod, Richard
Rodz…..er, if it makes you feel better then yes
Toonsy…..there’s always one who has to lower the tone
Toonsy, we may share the odd special moment together, but I’m not your possession.
Cya Jill, need to set your alarm for the match just in case
CC I know it goes on all the time But the problem for Willo is he doesn’t stop and its not just one handfull of shirt, and he should know better after getting caught.
He would be better of putting a saddle on their back and riding them the guy is a liability. Simmo gets far more stick and he is forever clearing the line and saving us games, its just a pity he wasn’t able to clear Willos OGs off the line
Dave… I tipped up at the hospital when my daughter was born with my Toon top and scarf, expecting to be able to shoot off straight after for the match……..nae such luck, V Port Vale I think it was.
Reet must do a bit to get finished early. Catch you’s in a bit.
RICHIE @69 there you go thinking again gan canny man batty has tablets for it like,get that bloody house sorted you tight git nee bull-shit about paperwork
Ice
send them an email last night, if they don’t sort it soon we’ll withdraw the offer, p!ssing me off now.
Toonsy – my son was one week late, daughter born on due date, day Newcastle beat the Mackems at Joker park in 1992 with a great Liam O’Brien free kick. I am forever reminding her she was born on a historic day
Ice – LOL
Deb – did you call her Liam or Brian?
Toonsy – I’ll go 20 quid on the 5th!!! … Never won many bets but I think I’m in the money on this one like
….don’t envy you Richie, buying a house is supposed to be the most stressful life experience, even above having a child, but I can’t vouch for that one. I know buying my first house almost drove my ’round the bend (some may say I was already there) but I had no prior knowledge, and was doing it all on my own in a full time job with no transport. Must have done an A-Z of Sheffield on my bike over 6 weeks. I had a time limit to find somewhere before my landlord at the time booted me out for the arrival of the new owners. Total heedfark it was. Good luck!
RICHIE good on you mate,to be fair you have worked on it hard enough on it will be nice for the mrs and you to get settled good luck mate
.
hope you can get a dish up or we will never hear the end of it
another one joins the never ending list
http://www.talksport.co.uk/sports-news/football/premier-league/transfer-rumours/120406/knockaert-newcastle-magpies-close-french-striker-169002
Ice – We’ve been linked with him or ages now. Would fill the Lovenkrands role I guess, but do we need anyone to do that?
A big step up if simmo goes.
Santon is a LB and always has been. He just needs to be played and allowed to develop. He still has the potential to be top banana.
With all this talk of big name signings do you think any of the reserves/ youth will get a chance?
Interesting times.
Rodz…Aye, even worse over here, nobody seems to be in a rush to do owt.
Cheers Ice, not too arsed about the dish yet as I only want one for the footy so willl have ’til next season. Will have to stick it in the garden somewhere because I’ll need a 2.4m one.
just like RICHIE hes always wanted a big one
…a bit of the old mañana mañana, Richie.
Richie, a 2.4M dish?!
..ye must be a reet fat bastad
Its a knockaert, Never seen him playing but i expect he’ll be quality judging by the clubs recent business.
Id love us to have a look at some strikers from sides battling relegation, Steven Fletcher and Victor Moses will leave their current sides if/when they are down and would fit in a treat in a 4-3-3 system…
RICHIE just a thought the pound is standing canny at the minute too 1.21euro to the £1
Just for the record Toonsy – Friday the 13th would make your tackers name Jason……….. or Jasonette. Sorry about the correction, I am an old horror movie fan….:-)
CC fletcher a canny shout said me-sel few weeks back,good stand by striker,doesnt mind sitting on the bench when he has too
CC, signing Knockaert could have a fantastic effect on crowd banter. Imagine him coming on as a late substitution…”he’s playing his joker!” …cue crowd spontaneously combusting into song (well theme-tune)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5hExLsJlaI
hahaha, would be ace. Not arsed about whether he can play football or not.
Ice
Im really starting to like moses aswell, Hes really come on this season in a shite team, Both him and fletcher would do well in a better side IMHO…
CC – Nzog was awesome in the same shit team! Look at him now….
AMF to be fair mate hes a right moody bar-steward like,was the same at toon
Aye but i would blame mccleishs style of long ball negative dross for that, Weve seen a change in form from ben arfa now were getting the ball on the ground again…
Fair call CC – Zog always had a shit attitude!
I can remember this little pearler from n’Zog after he got substituted for Heskey at SJP in February….
“‘For the first time in my life I’m not happy playing football.”
…via Twitter.
The kid has a short memory.
looking forward to the game today , will be very interesting what line up we use ! i personally would keep the same formation as the past few games and have either
============krul===========
simpson==wilo====perch==jonas
=====cabaye=tiote=raylor=====
=benny boy ==cisse=====ba===
or the same and put raylor left back and jonas midfield! its going to be an attacking game and i hope we can show the liberty stadium what we are made of!! we are capable of embarrasin them if we play well so fingers crossed and i hope we carry on the amazing form! hwtl
I think Simpson will be off in the summer, we will sign a Carr special and he won’t stick around to be second (or third with Santon) choice.
The goal line blocks don’t make up for the fact that there are better players around for RB and he doesn’t offer enough going forward or linking with the RW.
I’d agree with you there Army. Fight fire with fire I say. I have a feeling we’ll go there a bit more defensively though, in a 442, probably dropping Barfa. Hope not, I reckon it’s worth the risk. Like Ice said previously, it worked at the Hawthorns.
Also worth bearing in mind Swansea have only won 2 of their last 7 home games, admittedly they were against Man City and Arsenal!
…they definitely up their game against the top teams.
drop benny? no chance the form he is in! him and cisse are the top 2 players at the mo!! we cant go and play defensive , lets run riot i say
…be interesting to see the line-up. I hope it stays the same, well as near as possible given the potential loss of Perch, who’s still an uncertainty I believe.
my ideal team today would be play jonas left back as they attack from the right alot! hes our best left back by a mile haha
I don’t really rate Pieters that highly, he’s probably the poorest in the dutch back line and they’re not a great bunch for world cup runners up. Versatile true but is he good enough? Could he be a stop gap until Santon improves? I’m not so sure.
Ideally I’d also keep Simmo but i’m probably in the minority there…
I’d keep him Newkie, for sure. I think he gets a lot of unjustified stick.
Newkie, I’d keep simmo as well. Top rated RB in EPL. Of course we have names ready if they cannot agree, but I’m Happy for Simmo to be RB for some time yet, and with Tav pushing hard, what’s the prob.
Exactly, plus he’d never cost a fortune to keep hold of. Obviously we don’t know the ins and outs of contracts but I doubt he’d be demanding pairity with Colo or something like that…Keep him around, get a good left back, let the young uns santon/tav have a push at replacing him.
RODZILLA @51.
—————–
I agree that someone will likely go this summer, but people shouldn’t be surprised. I know everyone has a laugh with the “5-year plan” and all, but tbh the club has pretty much followed it to date. I think one of the things that they said was that purchases would be funded by player sales. So if people want a CB, LB,and another winger (I am one of them) that is likely going to be funded by someone like Tiote leaving, just like Cabaye/Cisse/Ba were funded by the Carroll sale. That’s just the way football works these days unless your owned by a sheik or an oligarch, or you qualify for Champions League.
MDS@107, to be honest mate, I’ve no idea how much money we have available. I know with regards to ins and outs the funds should still be well in credit, but that’s obviously looking at it simply, I understand not all of it has gone into player acquisitions.
If it meant us selling Tiote to bring in two defenders though, I’d probably rather just stick with what we’ve got. For some reason I was under the impression we had around £10m a season to spend on players (?) Not sure where I got that from.
Like I said, speculate to accumulate. £10m invested on squad strengthening would probably be paid back in league table finish/cup success etc…
Being an NUFC fan, I know what I want, but not sure what I’m allowed
…bit like writing Santa a list as a 5yr old. Might as well ask for a Chopper, Evel Knievel Stunt Bike AND a Big Track, ye never know!
(showing mi age there like)
No jeremy kyle DNA results needed to see whos fathered Alex Bruce, Reet ugly fecker…
…there should also be app £10 -£13m prize money for us finishing 8th – 5th. I’d like to think that would get used on player acquisitions without having to sell anyone. Anyway, whatever, fark knows eh.
Rodz…There was nowt like ripping ya knuckles open winding up Evel Knievel’s stunt bike…happy days
Don’t forget Cisse was apparently bought with money that had been put aside for the Summer window, so there’s 8-10m gone already
Debuchy would link with Ben Arfa and Cabaye well, not sure about the CBs though.
RICHIE@112 thats right mate cheer us all up
For those on this blog who dont rate Simpson.
Well it’s obvious you miss the finer points in the game.
Just because he does’nt put guys in the stand or perform the cheer raising sliding tackle, like Tiote, they assume he’s not doing the job.
Next time, well in fact to-day, watch his positioning and tackling, the fact he can just as easily edge an opponent off the ball, send him in an area he does’nt want to go, simple but subtle moves.
He also has surprising pace and seldom if ever goes to ground, unlike his fellow defendr he has to cover for most of the time Williamson.
There’s more to the game than the obvious and believe me his leaving would be a loss for the club.
http://swissramble.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/newcastle-united-life-in-northern-town.html
Sorry if it is old stuff, but here’s a canny article with more graphs and charts that you can shake a stick at….
p.s. Howay the lads…
he didnt play wellafter just comming back from injury and just lost one of his parents,i think any footballer would have a few problems concentrating with that on your shoulder!
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