The report, which is in the News of the World so you can apply liberal amounts of salt to it, claims that a bid could be on the cards as Newcastle try to address the lack of striking options the club has after the sale of Andy Carroll to Liverpool. A fee of £10 million has been mentioned before for the talented youngster.
Wickham has bags of potential, but because of that he is also on the radar of a lot of the bigger clubs. Manchester United and the likes are said to be interested, so if they come calling I wouldn’t rate our chances of landing him very highly.
With Wickham the club would be paying the price for potential, which would be great if it worked out in the long run, but it still wouldn’t solve our immediate need for a striker who can come in and ‘do a job’ from the word go.
These rumours have been going round now for quite some time, which leads me to believe that this is just a rehash of an older story. That, combined with the fact that the News of the World is not the most accurate publication makes me sceptical of the validity of this report.
Still, it’s worth covering, and there will no doubt be more to come now that everyone knows that we are sitting on a bundle of cash. We may not spend it all, but it won’t stop us getting linked with players.
Another player who has been strongly linked with us in the last few days is Gervinho. The Ivory Coast winger will only have 12-months left on his contract in the summer and his current club Lille have already conceded that they are likely to lose him in the summer and have named a price of €10 million. That’s Euro’s, not pounds.
There will be competition from other clubs for both players, but there is no doubt that either, or both, would dramatically increase the quality of our starting XI. Unlike some other Newcastle blogging sites, I’ve gotten past the sale of Andy Carroll to the point where I am looking at the future.
If, and it’s a big if at the minute, we can get quality players in to play in the positions that we are lacking then we could have a cracking little team, but a lot of that depends on us keeping our better players as it is. Keeping Jose Enrique, Cheik Tiote and Joey Barton is a must in my eyes, and if we can add to them with some quality, plus get Hatem Ben Arfa back to his best, then we could have a good little side.
The summer is going to be interesting, for sure.
Adding Gervinho, Wickham, Ireland (perm) and a quality winger…plus a full season of Gosling and Ben Arfa…happy thoughts
MDS(Quote)
only 17 i know,but carrying a bit owr weight for me may be puppy fat like,has very little pace for me
icedog(Quote)
Ice
Eh, a bit over weight? what’s his bmi like? If anything he looks like he need to beef up a bit, looks like a strong gust would blow him over.
And I would watch this if you think he’s slow, remember he’s 6’3, so pace is often deceptive when you’re that tall
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eEYtDDhXINw
I Love Mike(Quote)
The two mentioned in that article would be perfect and compliment each other well, Gervinho in particular is a class act and a good age. With the money we have for the summer it’s going to have more speculation in it than previously but lets just hope we don’t get another transfer saga i.e. Coloccini, Ben Arfa, although if we were to get someone of the same caliber i wont be complaining 😉
dan4toon(Quote)
as I said in my earlier article the continental suggestions I made were
Summer signings.
LB Cheikh M’Bengue Toulouse
LCM Ozan Ipek Bursaspor
RAM/RW Youssef El Arabi Caen
Striker Yevhen Seleznyov Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk
however Gervinho is a great alternative to Arabi.
Wickham would be a bonus as I don’t see him starting.
Premandup(Quote)
aye what MDS said seems pretty bang on like, however surely, even though how highly rated Wickham is, we would need a more experienced striker to come in also? That would be far to much presure on him if you ask me.
I Love Mike(Quote)
Still very raw, talented. Similar to Ranger really. I would like to get a proven goalscorer in the summer and then maybe plus Whickham. not just Whickham. Too good for Ipswich doesn’t necessarily mean good enough for us in the prem next season.
DJG(Quote)
which other sites would they be Toonsy? 😉
richietoon(Quote)
Rich – .com
toonsy(Quote)
ILM – Aye. I’m the same height and the pace can be deceptive like 🙂
toonsy(Quote)
ILM,to me his back end needs,work remember pace!30yrs ago at 11st i could do 100yd in 11.2sec,yes think i know aboot pace,next qes?
icedog(Quote)
bmi not all in one place would help imo
icedog(Quote)
oh by the way i was 6ft tall too
icedog(Quote)
Although i was never as fast as Ice to be fair 🙂
toonsy(Quote)
Ice… was that on ya souped up scooter? 😆
richietoon(Quote)
If we can keep this current squad, and in the summer add players like Wickham and Gervinho or other quality strikers(2) and out n out right winger, I feel we have a good squad which could challange for EuroLeague spots or higher.
AlanPardewProject(Quote)
Toonsy, you were deceptively slow though ❗ 😉
richietoon(Quote)
RICHIE 😀 that was in the old brown bloody boots too,and i didnt file the the studs i want nt a dirty player,(well maybe filed them just a little 😉
icedog(Quote)
Ice – I did. I used to use metal studs (which were banned at the time) and sharpen them 😈
A good old rake down the back of the defenders leg and they soon think twice about tackling you 😈 😈
toonsy(Quote)
TOONSY you tinker hes me thinking you were fair play toonsy,
a trick they used corner and free kicks jump late so they came down with some sharpened studs on the top of foot,god it made there eyes water,not that i ever done that like 😉
icedog(Quote)
Its not a matter of who may come in to me. Its more a matter of who we can keep.The big parasites are circling.
nutmag(Quote)
Ice – People call it dirty, but I call it playing the game. You can be as nice as you want, but if you lose the game you are still the loser.
The moral high ground never got three points, not in my experience anyway 😉
toonsy(Quote)
Ice you never done that did ye ? I thought you were as fair and just relied on skill 😆
As for Toonsy he wasn’t gifted so had to resort to them tactics
Big Dave(Quote)
TOONSY you got it mate,but shake hands at the end like i know nowt wink wink 😀
icedog(Quote)
I think players will stay if ( and that is a big if ) the club show ambition in the summer nutmag
Johno Toon(Quote)
DAVE me never m8 it was the other dirty sods like toonsy,never been sent off me.
mind did limp off if i thought i was getting close 😉
icedog(Quote)
JT I agree they will stay if the club shows ambition, and MA wouldn’t need to be to clever to work it out
Big Dave(Quote)
Ice what position did you play ? MF
Toonsy was a good right back
Right back to the changing rooms 😆
Big Dave(Quote)
New thread up btw.
toonsy(Quote)
DAVE outside-right them days 😀
icedog(Quote)
nick-name greyhound,looked like one too 😥
icedog(Quote)
Toonsy…nice ‘undertone’ to the headline 😉
richietoon(Quote)