Who is “in”and who is “out” at NUFC?

In or out in the summer?
Much of the talk this summer will be abut transfer rumours and squad strengthening, or even weakening if that is your particular train of thought.

However our squad can only be so big, and whilst people are quick to bemoan our light squad it’s also worth pointing out that we have a squad equal to the likes of Chelsea, Manchester United, Arsenal and so on, in terms of size at least.

Our squad is not “small”, it is comparable with others and is larger than quite a few of them – remember, you can only have a 25 man squad these days. What we are lacking is a bit of quality in depth, which is what we need to focus on improving this summer.

The thing is, we need to move people out first before getting more in, and if the aim is to improve the quality within the squad then it will inevitably mean that some of the squad players or fringe players will have to move on. But which ones? Who should be in and who should be out of NUFC?

The easy ones to start with are the ones that are out of contract in the summer. Those being Danny Guthrie and Danny Simpson.

Danny Simpson

I believe he’ll stay. from everything I’ve read it’s nothing to do with wages or anything like that – they are agreed apparently. The issue, again apparently, is how those wages are paid. Of course every millionaire needs to budget accordingly…

Anyway, for me he is a keeper. He’s been an ever-present in a stunning season and has improved as the season has progressed. Even if there are better choices out there for right-back, he would still be a fantastic option for backup.

IN

Danny Guthrie

Another lad who has done well when called upon, but also another lad who is replaceable. I just think he wants first team football at this stage in his career and is good enough to get it elsewhere.

OUT

Beyond that we start to look at players who are going to be on the fringes and who have contracts. Players like Mike Williamson, James Perch, Leon Best and so on.

Mike Williamson

Perfectly capable of being a backup defender. Has been shaky at times this season but has also excelled in other games. I think we should keep hold of him to supplement our defensive strengthening rather than try and get rid only to have to find another player like him to take his place in the squad. With Williamson, Taylor, Coloccini and A.N.Other centre-back we’d have a reliable quartet in central defence.

IN

James Perch

Perch has never been as bad as some have made him out to be. Fans never really gave him a chance and errors in his early days didn’t help. However he has been splendid this season and has proven that he can perform for us. As long as we keep him away from the centre of defence I say keep him. He’s earned another go at it!

IN

Leon Best

I am a Leon Best fan and think he is underrated. Shola has a new contract and then we have Demba Ba (at the moment) and Papiss Cisse and Best won’t get in ahead of those two. In my view we need someone a bit better for when our first choice strikers are away playing in Africa, but the problem is getting someone better who will be willing to sit on the bench in the meantime.

IN

Of course these are only a few players and I’ve not covered all of them, because I want to see what you guys can come up with. I’ve also left out players like Ryan Taylor, who has not long signed a new contract as, to me anyway, that would seem to suggest that he is in the plans for the squad for the foreseeable future.

The bottom line is that the squad needs to improve it’s quality not quantity if we are to compete on a number of fronts, and to do that we need to be ruthless and shift on some of our squad players and replace them with better squad players.

The question is, which ones do you shift?

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.

44 thoughts on “Who is “in”and who is “out” at NUFC?

  1. wasnt happy to hear cissie say he would be un-happy if Ba and Tiote leave in the summer,does he know sumit we dont 😕

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  2. Peter Loverhands will be another one to replace in the summer.
    Or should I say his departure will free up another slot in the 25.

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  3. “Anyway, for me he is a keeper”…..never seen him in goal, bit short imo 😉 😆

    I agree,I think Simmo will stay and I think Guthrie will leave as he’ll want 1st team footy.
    I also think Bestie will go, they accepted a bid apparently in Jan so the writings on the wall I reckon.
    Harper wants to go out on loan so assuming Forster will leave we’ll need at least 1 goalie possibly 2.
    Smith is obviously gone, Xisco won’t unfortunately 👿
    As for the rest and who will come in, **** knows.

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  4. Icebox – I think he is just setting the record straight before the summer merry go round starts.
    He’s not the only one either. I’m predicting that none of our main men will be leaving if we finish top4.

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  5. Ice….I reckon it’s more likely that as they’re the 2 most linked with moves that a reporter has asked him how he’d feel if they left.

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  6. Get rid of Guthrie, simpson, Best, Lovenkrands and Williamson.
    and allow Graham Carr to upgrade the lot. Abhied, Streete,Tavernier,Vucick and Sammy Ameobie are all pushing through and with Steve Taylor & Marvaux back from injury plus the list of targets drawn up by Carr we should be moving to take the next step up in terms of quality.

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  7. Sammy Ameobi. Lol joke.
    No way in a million years good enough for a prem club let alone one pushing for europe. IMO

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  8. Anyone reckon we need another striker. 😐

    And find someone in mid that can scores goals as well.

    New set of fullbacks….

    1CB.

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  9. I agree ice …. Would champs league even guarantee keeping tiote and ba I wonder?
    Will be our biggest summer for a long time.
    Cashley cant get rid of everyone but he has assets right through the team;
    Krul (£20m)
    Tiote (£25m)
    Cabaye (£20m)
    HBA (£15m)
    Ba (£25m)
    Cisse (£20m)

    All hypothetical of course but we have class players in the squad and he cant sell them all!
    Would love to see us strengthen the following positions;
    GK – to replace harps
    RB, CB (x2?)
    LW
    ST

    Add a couple of young frenchies to the mix we will look a whole lot stronger for europe 😆

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  10. We have 2 New signings for the start of next season straight away, s. Taylor, marvaux , smith, xisco , Harper, lovenkrands, will free up some cash in salary alone. If we get gosling fit in the summer and back to his best . Hes young and has the abillity, as a squad player

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  11. AOD@12, We dont need a senior striker but would like to see a younger striker with potential come in.
    Think we also need strengthening in the full back positions.

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  12. yes true we have marv and imo is a top player but can he stay fit?will be like a new signing,we defo need a good striker with this bloody ANC players out for maybe 6/7wks,maybe krul will go and we will fall back on FF hes dragging his feet on celtic move,imo pieters will come in if his fitness can be proved that will cover c/b and l/b plus imo sammy isnt going to make a “good”PL player,maybe even a m/f if tiote goes

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  13. Premier League Team (as it stands)

    (4-3-3)

    Krul
    Simmo, Colo, Taylor, Santon
    Cabaye, Tiote, Guti
    HBA, Ba, Cisse

    Europa League (as it stands)

    (4-4-2)

    Forster,
    Raylor, Willo, Perch, Fergie
    Obertan, Guthrie, Gosling, Marveaux,
    Ameobi, Best

    Youngsters: Vuckic, Abeid, Sameobi, Tavernier

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  14. I would keep Best if he is happy to be back-up. Him and Ba did really well upfront together at the start of the season and it offers us something different. We can’t play Ba and Cisse for 38 PL games + all Europa games, and Shola will get crocked if we try to start him for more than about 2 games in a row 🙄 I’d say we need 1 more striker, or 2 more if Best goes.

    No mention of Obertan? Personally I think we need to give him another season, but he’s got to step-up soon. I love looking at his head, but that can only sustain me for so long.

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  15. Has our 25man squad always included Xisco up till now whilst he’s been out on loan? Just don’t include him this year….plus Loven will be off, as well as Smith right. Presumably Forster will be off too? Has he been named in our squad at all?

    I worry about defensive mid to be honest, despite the numbers we have who can play there, when Tiote is at the ACON the only real player is Perch. Abeid was supposed to fill in during the ACON but didn’t so to me that says his progress is much slower than expected/his training isn’t going great.

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  16. Newkie,

    The 25 man squad is for the League only. It has to be named at the close of each transfer window (or a day after or something), then only those 25 (+ unlimited under-21s) can be used until the next list is handed in.

    The 25 has to have 8 slots dedicated to home grown players (players who have had at least 3 years playing at a club in England or Wales before thier 21st birthday). These slots don’t have to be filled. But it just means you will have less than 25 players in your squad.

    But to actually answer your question, no, Xisco is not in our 25.

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  17. Out;
    smith, lovenkrands,xisco,simpson,best

    In;
    Douglas,Debuchy,Hoilett,Rhodes,Pieters

    That halps get rid of deadwood and strengthen the squad if we are to make Europe, what u think?

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  18. Or Steven Fletcher isn’t a bad shout from wolves if they go down instead of Rhodes as he is not that old either?

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  19. I’d get rid of smith, lovenkrands, xisco (if we can) also id get rid of gosling or send him out on loan to see if he improves either to a top championship or lower prem as i dont see him getting into the first team, if we continue to send players out on loan that will only benefit us in the long run….possibly send obertan out aswell.

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  20. the most important names have not been mentioned….. Krul, Tiote and ba. Wil lthe stay of go? Looking back to this point last year when other big names left such as nolan, jose etc. we improved so them jogging on was clearly the right move by the mamagement. It would be hard to justify it a second time round though with this team… how could we get better than Krul or Ba or Tiote? These are all guys that love nufc, want to stay, are on long deals and create no waves, plus are top draw. i hope we only loose the ones that can be replaced. guthrie, Simpson, Loven, Best or Stroller. I think that we could swap Santon to the right and bring in Peiters to the left if Simmo goes. I agree, its not about getting a bigger squad its about getting a better squad. We have to be careful though as too many egos will fuk it right up. Balancing act.

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  21. It doesn’t warrant getting too attached to any players now days.. Players come and go on such a regular basis that it is hard to believe anyone will stay for more than a couple of years.. If you get a good two years, you would almost take that from a player.. 😕

    more importantly, is Ritchie “out” yet 😆 😆

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  22. Fecking hell. I completely forgot about Alan Smith 😯

    Easy enough I guess 😆

    Definite OUT! 👿

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  23. Also agree with Aussie about getting attached to players. They come and go frequently enough. We’ve just been blessed in recent years with players like Shearer who spent years here. He is an exception to the rule.

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  24. It was never Smiths fault that our owners signed off on a ridiculous contract offer… But it has been a real waste of money, that is for sure…

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  25. I see Chelsea had only 20% possession against Barcelona and won last night 😯

    Funny old game init. Reckon Di Matteo picked up tips from Pardiola against Swansea 😉

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  26. Xisco and Harper both have a year left on their contracts, Harper “may” leave but I think a loan is more likely, no chance of getting Xisco off the wage bill imo.

    Liam….I think only dalglish would pay those prices 😉 I reckon you could knock at least £40m of that total 😯

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  27. I fuken hate the possession stat…. 😈
    You don’t win games with possession, you win by scoring more goals than the opposition…

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  28. One player that nobody has mentioned is Kadar. I believe he’s also out of contract in the summer and I cant see it being renewed. Next season he would no longer qualify as an under-21 player and would therefore need to be named in the 25-man squad if he was kept on the books. I can’t see it happening because he’s behind Willo and Perch in the pecking order and we need to free up a space to bring in a top quality CB.

    So I think the players most likely to be leaving are Smith, Kadar, Lovenkrands, Forster and Guthrie. Even if no others left it would free enough spaces to bring in the players we most need to strengthen the squad.

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  29. Aussie – Really? 😯 😯 😯

    The way some tits were talking after our recent game against Swansea has made me think otherwise 😉

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  30. I can’t believe that noone has mentioned Gutierrez. He’s been a superstat for us. 90 minutes every game

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  31. Sorry Rich, I maybe was a bit subtle 🙂

    Toonsy, I was more than chuffed with or showing against Swansea..

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  32. For me I think Tiote is likely to leave. I think a 20-25mil bid comes in and he’s gone. And fair enough. That money can go a long way with Carr. Bring in Diame for free? Not quite the same pedigree but the Tiote money can be spent strengthening the defence therefore less need for Tiote to cover the defence 😎

    Also we read comments from Krul (who I think is a banker to stay, unless he’s pushed) and Ba (who I think would only leave if PSG came along and would’t knock him for going to them as they’re his childhood club) and the comments are all really positive and seem like they are really genuinley enjoying their footy. But I don’t remember reading so many from Mr.T? Maybe it’s just me not picking up on them?

    Would anyone object to Tiote going for 25mil and bringing in Diame (or similar) so we can use the money to bolster defence?

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  33. Don’t really wanna see any of our top guys leave to be honest but if any do go they must do it quickly in order to get the right replacements in early ready for pre season .

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  34. I would snatch Diame and Moses anytime from Wigan, both of them looked class against Arsenal, former one coming on late but causing damage. Tho’ Moses would probably cost a bit, but would be a good replacement for Best or play wide.

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  35. Simmo still has another year after this one on his current contract, so he’ll only leave if we sell him, unlike Gutherie, Smith, Lover, Kadar who’re either at the end of their current contracts or been released by the club…

    Also ftinge players like Ranger & Xisco will be off loaded if the club can find somewhere for them & I’m hoping beyond hope that that will be enough off the wage bill for us to be able to bring in another 4 or 5 players who’re gonna fight for the 1st team…. as we need a CB, LB, AMF, DFM & ST imo

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  36. Presuming you have written off Ranger, Smith and Loverman.
    But if along with the afore mentioned and Guthrie I wouldn’t be too disappointed. That’s not saying some of those potentially going are not good enough. I just have bigger fears when it comes to losing players, Tiote, Ba and Krul being the biggest fears.
    Retaining those bigger names and adding 4 key squad members will be a happy off season for this fan.

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