The PSG forward opted to sign for the Parc des Princes outfit instead of joining us last summer, which in hindsight was probably a bad move for him but a good move for us as we ended up with Papiss Cisse instead.
Apparently he has fallen out with Carlo Ancelotti after failing to nail down a regular starting spot for PSG and has been told that he can find a new club after just one season in the French capital. Mind you, his goal record still isn’t bad despite not being a regular starter and he managed to finds the net 11 times in 30 appearances last term.
I have a saying, and that saying is never go back. I would suggest it should apply to this scenario also. He’s turned us down once so for him to join us now would almost be like we would be his second choice, his last chance if you like. What sort of message does that send out to the other players in the squad? You weren’t good enough then but now I’ve failed you are?
Fortunately I think we’ve moved on and are now looking at other targets to bolster our front line. I don’t think we’ll be investing huge amounts in our front line unless we lose a player, most likely to be Demba Ba which in turn means that it’s unlikely we’ll stump up the majority of the €11m PSG will want to recoup for the former Lorient man.
Another name we’ve been linked with over the last few days is that of Coventry City’s 18-year-old highly-rated midfield enforcer Gael Bigirimana, with Sky Sports even suggesting that he’ll be signing for us over the summer.
Described as an “Essien style” players, Bigirimana has impressed at The Ricoh Arena despite the recent relegation of the Sky Blues. If signed by us he would most definitely be one for the future rather than one for the now.
So what do you make of it all? Would be willing to take Gameiro, again?
Yes, especially if Demba Ba’s contract talks fail I would offer a swap deal?
Gary(Quote)
Agree with you Toonsy on Gameiro, couldn’t see the club going back in for him after he turned us down.
On Bigirimana. YES YES YES! He’s a quality young player, seen him play for Coventry about 15 times last season and has all the attributes needed for a holding-midfielder, albeit a rough diamond at the minute.
The Coventry Telegraph were reporting we had bid between 500k and £1 million for him and Andy Thorn, Coventry’s manager was worried about losing him as the board will want to cash in on him.
dan4toon(Quote)
This time last year I really wanted us to sign this guy but, a bit like the Turkish kid at PSG, it seemed something of a risk. We got Ba (and he still remains a risk) and then the real deal in Cisse. I think it’s a young up and coming striker we need who’s willing to wait and learn. The EL and ACON will see chances to start.
georgio(Quote)
The Journal’s claiming we won’t get M’biwa either as he’s off to Jarmany. Could just be his agent agitating, who knows, but he did seem like a good possibility.
georgio(Quote)
Would agree not to sign Gamerio as I think he will cost too much and Im sure we have other targets in mind.
dont know much about Bigirimana but from what I have read he is highly rated and for the rumored price it would be a good move in my opinion.
Johno Toon(Quote)
**** him.
He’s already turned us down once, and spat his dummy out at having to sit on the bench with PSG. Sounds like another sulker to me.
All our current players have the right attitude, they want to play for us and will accept the fact they won’t always get a game. Don’t want any prima donnas, thanks, we’ve had plenty of them before and they’re not worth the hassle.
Rodzilla(Quote)
….Michael Owen being the obvious exception, who was more than happy to sit on the bench for a princely sum.
Rodzilla(Quote)
Rod – the problem with England’s Michael Owen wasn’t sitting on the bench, it was when he was on the bloody field. What a total waste of space – the guy was finished when he was 23!
What I’d like is a young hungry Suarez/Tevez type and not a Jordan Rhodes/Grant Holt. In fact I haven’t seen a good young English player in any position.
georgio(Quote)
Georgio, haha, yeah you’re right there. He never seemed that arsed when he played for ‘Michael Owen United’, I guess our team was just too **** for him. 😆
I’m with you on the firey, pacey little handful of a player to add to our forward line. I would have taken Defoe a couple of years ago, he deserves more than the bench at Spurs, but I think he’s another one of these ‘troublesome’ types anyway. I watched the play off final the other day between Blades and Udders Feeled, and Rhodes did absolutely nothing for me to think he could cut it with us. He’s probably just another Jermaine Beckford.
I’d like another South American player, they’re hard as nails. 😯
…a decent one though. No Fumacas/Cordones/Bassedas(es) or ‘Nacho’s though 😆
Rodzilla(Quote)
He had his chance no thanks
TOONARMYELITE(Quote)
Price. All about the price
if PSG want to recoup the same fee they paid out to Lorient – no chance. If he’s available at half the price, why not?
M(Quote)
If he was available for half the price though M, that would suggest he’s a proper pain in the **** and they’re desperate to get rid. Bit of a double edged sword you’re wielding there. Although Ben Arfa is a prime example of a ‘tamed’ player. Maybe we could do something with Gameiro, but the alarm bells are ringing for me.
Rodzilla(Quote)
Georgio
Think it’s more we’re being priced out of a move for him. Reckon we should turn our attention to Toby Alderwield.
Andymag(Quote)
Rod – I’d also go for a South American, Argie or Uruguay. They are indeed hard as nails. Who was that guy a few years back on loan to Brum/WBA? Can’t quite remember his name, went off to Italia? I’d take him.
georgio(Quote)
Andy – did you mean M’biwa? There’s so many rumours flying around and we all know nowt’s happening until July anyway.
Mauro Zarate! Tricky, skillful and very persistent. And very expensive Argy.
Remember him Rod?
georgio(Quote)
I don;t buy this Mbiwa talk. I think it’s far from decided where he will go, especially now he has failed to make the France squad.
I mean he did say not so long back he wants to move to England ahead of any other league. It’s just his agent doing what agents do IMO.
toonsy(Quote)
Hey Toonsy! How’s it going with the little fella? I also agree with you re agents. What a strange job that must be. Bit like working for MI6 but more money. Mbiwa would be my first choice.
georgio(Quote)
Toonsy – is there a setting or something on the site that allows comments to appear as they happen – constant updates rather than having to reload all the time?
georgio(Quote)
Zarate, yeah Georgio I remember the name. Can’t remember him doing enough to warrant me transferring him into my Fantasy League team at the time though. 🙂 …probably because he played for a McLeish team that never seemed bothered about attacking.
Rodzilla(Quote)
Georgio, there’s probably an auto-refresh option available, but I think that’d be more of an annoyance than a help, as the page would refresh while your halfway through reading something.
Rodzilla(Quote)
Don’t know much about him other than his stats, if Pards and the scouts wanted him and he was the the right price, then fair enough for me.
As for us not being his first choice, so what? best get rid of most of our team because Newcastle would be “first choice”for next to none of them. If I remember his “preferred” options were PSG or Valencia, both offering European football and with PSG a probable shot at the title and near to his place of birth or an English side tipped by many to struggle and possible relegation, who would you have picked?…..that said I don’t think we’re interested.
Reference Mbiwa, the journal article is pretty much bollox, starting with the “missed out” headline, if we don’t put in an offer then we haven’t really missed out, his agent also says there’s been interest from German clubs, doesn’t say owt about anyone putting in an offer. Early doors yet, time will tell.
richietoon(Quote)
Gergio – I could get a plugin for auto-refreshing, but it would use so much resources in terms of numerous and repeated calls to the server all day long which would slow everything down numerous times….
Plus it would annoy the hell out of me getting down so far only for the page to refresh and have to find where I was.
best bet is to just press F5 whenever you’re ready to refresh and stop being so lazy 😉
toonsy(Quote)
Good to see HBA and Cabaye have made the final cut for the France squad
stevep(Quote)
Toonsy….bit cheeky claiming the “never go back” saying as your own like 😉 😆
You overseas again?
richietoon(Quote)
Richie, my argument was more along the lines of him getting his ‘preferred choice’ after turning us down, and still not being happy. He doesn’t strike me as a player happy to sit on the bench, and I think there’ll be a lot of that next season. Of course I’m just putting 2 and 2 together (and probably getting 5).
Rodzilla(Quote)
Toonsy ,I’m with you in that I wouldn’t go back in for him ,I would like to think we can pick and choose a little more with our improved Euro status . With regard to Gael Brigirimana ,I havn’t seen him play that much to pass comment ,other than to say he’s most likely one for the future I suppose. We seem to be linked with lots of Forwards and midfielders what about the Defenders we need ,other than Rosales it’s a bit quiet on that front. I’m with Andy with regards Toby Alderwiered ,think he could be a good choice for us.
kimtoon(Quote)
True Rodz but as a capped player with a major international tournament coming up, you can’t really expect him to be happy on the bench…Only young players or players coming to the end of their careers would probably be happy(probably not the right word) to bench warm, plus if he honestly believes he’s better than those ahead of him, he’d be pissed of regardless of international recognition.
richietoon(Quote)
Yeah Richie, I see your point. He just doesn’t sit well with my gut.
…mind you, neither do I. 😯
Rodzilla(Quote)
Buddha is the only one who would sit well with my gut 😯 😆
richietoon(Quote)
😛 😆 😎
Rodzilla(Quote)
We need a good third striker to compete with, and complement, Ba and Cisse.
My first choice would be Bas Dost as he would give us something different up front and improve our goal tally from set pieces.
However, should Ba decide to move on this Summer then Gameiro has to be in the frame, even at the £10m PSG will demand. And I’d still take Dost as well.
sidekick(Quote)
————————–KRUL————————
DEBUCHY—-MBWIA—COLLO—-SANTON
——————-TIOTE—–CABAYE————-
BEN ARFA———-DE JONG——-KAGAWA
—————————CISSE———————-
ToonAndy(Quote)
it looks as if everyone has accepted the fact that Ba will be leaving. I would be surprised if that happens so that means that this Kevin fella will be a no go.. it seems that the press are dragging up old targets now and giving them a re-run 👿
Aussie Magpie Fan(Quote)
It always happens Aussie, when there’s nowt happening they just make it up. I bet if Toonsy did an article on us lining up Neymar it’d be on the Mirror website by tomorrow morning.
Rodzilla(Quote)
ToonAndy
Like the team but it would cost 30m+ to make it.
Andymag(Quote)
spot on Rodz, Neymar, now theres a blast from the past…
Aussie Magpie Fan(Quote)
I saw it happen a few years ago Aussie, when I used to post on Ed’s blog. Someone (it might have been Troy actually 😆 ) made up some utter bollocks on a post which got discussed, eventually ended up on forums, then the Mirror website. I can’t remember what the story was though, but it was pretty funny watching it spread to its eventual destination. 😆
Rodzilla(Quote)
….Troy, no offence BTW, it might not have been you.
Rodzilla(Quote)
Rod, perhaps we could have a bit of fun with the press by starting some false rumours ,see how long it takes em to pick it up.We could get Toonsy to email us all a code word which we would slip into any false post .
😉
kimtoon(Quote)
Rodz, mate i love the “no offence” remark… after some of your early morning exploits, your post at 37 could be considered tame in comparison 😆
Aussie Magpie Fan(Quote)
Hi Aussie, Think it’s great discussing the Toon with someone so far off. How did you become a fan? Geordie by birth? Family? Ever get to SJP?
georgio(Quote)
Kim@39 😆 …it’s a sure fire winner!
Aussie@40, yeah I’m sure my “early morning explicits” can give the wrong impression of Rodzilla to the unsuspecting innocents. Having said that, it’s not me who posts them, it’s my insane alter ego. I should have two usernames for different times of the day really; this one and ‘5.3% ABV Rodzilla’. 😆
…anyway, I’m off, catch thees later…………. 😎
Rodzilla(Quote)
Thanks for the info Toonsy – problem is I’m on a Mac. Not lazy mate – I press F5 and nothing at all happens. I can live with it all but kind of like the BBC cricket site that self refreshes every run or wicket.
georgio(Quote)
Georgio, I’m a CMD R man myself 😉
PCs are dirty, and the work of the devil. 😈
Rodzilla(Quote)
You know what they say about the devil Rod! Get those rumours going! I see we’ve been linked (wink wink) with Kevin Phillips. . . .
georgio(Quote)
Hey Georgio, not a Geordie mate and going to SJP is still on my bucket list… been a Toon fan for over 20 years mate… can’t really remember why I started supporting the Toon way back then… 😀
Aussie Magpie Fan(Quote)
Gameiro seems to be too much like Cisse in that he’s primarily just a deadly finisher. We have that in Cisse and Ba really. If Ba left, maybe I would be good with him, but I think with that happening I would rather see us bring in somebody who will be deadly on that left wing.
Granted, Marveaux could still prove to be amazing out there. I just think we need to get an attacker that offers more than just clinical finishing
AndrewT(Quote)
Aussie . . . so you started following the Toon when we were in the bottom 3 of the championship? You deserve a trip to SJP now mate!!!!
georgio(Quote)
Georgio…He said “over” 20 years, so probably started when we won the Fairs Cup….fecking gloryhunter 😆
richietoon(Quote)
I agree with Andrew T…
Someone in the mould of a Mata would be great. Marveaux could prove handy.
JJ(Quote)
I was born in the ‘entertainers’ prime but couldnt give a **** about football (watching not playing) till I was seven so Robsons era. So nothing good has happened since I’ve been a supporter 🙁
Andymag(Quote)
Apparently he ‘snubbed’ us at the beginning of the season so I don’t really want him.
George(Quote)
Off topic, I see Ben Arfa is on the cover of tomorrow’s issue of les InRockuptibles….. go Hatem!
http://www.hatem-benarfa.com
Susan(Quote)
AndrewT. Agree with youvregarding gameiro. I think marv will do a good job for us on the left if he can stay healthy
MDS(Quote)
Susan @53,Love the pic of him on the union jack 😎 He is a cutie that’s for sure 😀
kimtoon(Quote)
For those who didnt manage to see the game benny vs Iceland
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ab-xsjJpSaU
voila, enjoy
cynicaltoonfan(Quote)
Susan
I should never have shown you that site 😆
Andymag(Quote)
No, we dodge a bullet!
Stuart79(Quote)
Kim, nice pic eh? 😀
Andy, 🙄 😆
Susan(Quote)
I really, really want to see Marveaux shine next year…..
Susan(Quote)
I completely agreed with Richie on this one. I really don’t see what the kid done wrong?
Let’s face it, we were a mid table club selling all of their ‘best’ players last summer against PSG – a club where he could have very well won a league winners medal … No brainer for me like!
He never said he didn’t want to join us or our offer was not enough – as Barnetta did, he just picked a club where he could win things.
But now, he’s not getting a game there and all their talk is getting a new striker in.
As said, Pardew knows the type of players he wants in his squad and if Pardew still wants this lad, and we can get him at the right price he’d be a great addition to the squad … Particularly during the ACoNs.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Susan…You just want to see him on the NUFC calender I suspect 😉
Sharpy…To be fair to Barnetta, CC posted a link the other day to a Skysports story that said the “Barnetta Agent” who ridiculed the Toons offer actually doesn’t represent him or have owt to do with him 😕
richietoon(Quote)
Sharpy…it was this article http://www.skysports.com/story/0,,11678_7081256,00.html
richietoon(Quote)
…for some reason the link doesn’t work so you have to copy and paste it in to the address bar 😕
richietoon(Quote)
Gameiro I would take him but couldn’t see us buying him as a 3rd choice and couldn’t see him being happy unless he was near guaranteed starter, so unless Ba is going can’t see it happen.
I see some of the lasses are getting heated up on here over a few pics 😀
Big Dave(Quote)
Richie ,Benny is Mr June on my Toon calender ,up next 😎 😀
kimtoon(Quote)
Dave….typical lasses, treat men like sex objects…….until they marry them 😆
richietoon(Quote)
Kim…..I’ve changed my avatar to a pic of Benny just for you, should be up in a few minutes…..hopefully 😉
richietoon(Quote)
Dave @65 , Little bit of fantasy does you good ,It’s a bit pervy on my part as I’m a mature lady and he’s half my age and a bit. 😳 😯 😉
kimtoon(Quote)
Richie you are too kind 😀
kimtoon(Quote)
Dave…agree too, no way he would come while Ba is here. Not that I think the Toon would be interested anymore anyway.
richietoon(Quote)
see the pervs are back 🙂 yous need to stop getting those family vids off batty
icedog(Quote)
ICE 😆
kimtoon(Quote)
Richie – To be honest I asked the question the other day about Barnetta (should we take him having knocked us back?) and the more I think about it the more I think – if we can get him on a free then yes we should.
As you said earlier, I cant imagine we would have been many peoples first choice over the last few seasons, what with league positions, managers coming and going and the ‘changes’ the board have made within the club.
However now I see us as being a really attractive club to players.
Im not sure if they will come or not but Barnetta and Gameiro would certainly improve our squad and give us great options if we decided to set up as 4-4-2 for certain games.
It’s getting a but silly how many players we are being linked with now though.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Kim your as young as you feel 😆
Richie they treat men like sex objects and don’t realise that we have feelings too 😀
Reet back to do a bit of work 😕 catch you’s later
Big Dave(Quote)