In the last few days there have been numerous reports linking us to both a left back and a striker.
For the left back the initial report was that we had approached Gary Neville’s Valencia with a view to taking their tough tackling twice capped 29-year-old Argentine Lucas Orban on loan. That rumour quickly subsided with the news we were on the verge of securing the services of Brazilian born but Italian and Spanish eligible Guilherme Siqueira from Atletico Madrid. I was concerned about this one because be is described as an attacking full back, better going forward than back. I feel our back line is screaming out for a solid presence and with Townsend able to do the attacking on the left, it makes sense for us to employ a ‘limited’ full back concentrating on protecting our third of the pitch.
Now it transpires Valencia are about to scoop up Siqueira on a permanent deal, so I’d not be suprised if it was just the media putting 2 and 2 together and it was always Orban that we were going to sign. Watch this space. We had a successful Spanish left back in Jose Enrique not so long ago, but he did take a long while to warm up, which is always a concern with overseas purchases…
Up front we have been heavily linked to Loic Remy, Saido Berahino, Seydou Doumbia and Bafetimbi Gomis.
I won’t bore you with the specific stats but in terms of records in the PL, Gomis contributes a goal or assist every 3 games. At 30-years-old I don’t feel he is the man for us. His record this year mirrors Alexander Mitrovic’s almost exactly in terms of direct goal contribution, chances created, attacking moves etc with Gomis winning more one-to-one challenges.We need a significant improvement in our front line and Gomis does not fit the bill.
Seydou is an Ivorian with an impressive record in Russia, who can play up front or as an inside forward on either flank. If he comes in on loan, then we have little to lose – but he is unproven in the best leagues and is somewhat of a journeyman – again I’m not convinced.
So that leaves Remy and Berahino. Both of these players have directly contributed 1 goal every 2 games so far in their time in the English top flight. That makes them by far the better of the prospects currently available and we should move Heaven and Earth to secure one of them if we are serious about doing all we can to avoid the drop.
At 29, Remy would want a long contract as it’s likely to be his last big pay day. We know what he can do from his previous time with us, but with Leicester keen on him, we stand little chance of securing his services given their position in the league. I’d also be cautious about pinning our hopes on a man that has a track record of spurning us.
So that leaves Saido Berahino as the only realistic, available player capable of immediately significantly improving our front line. He is English, proven in the PL and only 22-years-old. It is rumoured we have offered in the region if £25m whilst the Baggies want in excess of £30m. Before I did my thorough homework on him, I though tbat price was steep given his questionable attitude this season. However, his stats are not in question and we don’t know what happened behind the scenes last summer. He might have been promised a move away only for West Brom to change the goalposts at the last minute. Who knows?
Andy Carroll was a young prospect that the Magpies managed to get £35m for several years ago way before this £5b TV deal was on the agenda. When you consider that and what is at stake for us this season, I’d say £30m for Berahino is actually a fair price and our board needs to cough up if they are serious about keeping this great club in the big time where it belongs.
Any of the other options are simply a cheap gamble….
I like zees Toevin very muuch but of what good eez he to me raht now? You might as well have geeven me a poke in ze bagel pouch wiz zee sharp steek you know?
GeordieTwo(Quote)
I’ve been working on the CashleyCopter mates. If the rotor and tail stabilizer don’t fall off we should be in good shape to nip in and pinch Berahino at the last minute!
GeordieTwo(Quote)
Or at least that’s my translation of what he said Shamrock mate….. 😯
GeordieTwo(Quote)
Well actually, Sharpy my view was always £25m might persuade them, but not £21m as I have just said. Point still stands – why such a low ball offer (relatively speaking)
Stuart79(Quote)
G2 sounds about right mate. I translated that as: ‘What has the Chairman given me this Muppet for? He’s a nice lad but I asked for a footballer, not a gutless fairy. If we need a team mascot to stand on the sidelines prancing around in a tuxedo then I guess we are covered but I thought this was football we are supposed to be playing?”
Shamrock(Quote)
Sham – I think that’s fair & honest of the fella. He’s not slagging Thauvin off, hes just saying its not what he needs.
I suppose it would be like us taking Ryan Mason on loan from Spurs – good player but not what we need.
Looks like Steven Fletcher is going there as well anyway – don’t get that one like.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Stu – I don’t think it is a low ball offer to be fair. The lad only has 18mth left on his contract so I think that’s a very decent offer.
If WBA had come back with a response of ‘we will only sell for £25m’ then how do you know they wouldn’t have increased it?.
Sharpy17(Quote)
We seem to always go after the unobtainable forwards which always ends in a rebuff from said player or rejection from the clubs. When we have bought in decent players in the past it’s mostly gone under the radar. Funny how when we bid big or for players of real class we make it public, remember the sunday breaking news when we tried to buy back Carroll that time, that fell flat on it’s ****, just like the Remy courtship did and has again. Don’t forget he only came to us cause QPR went down, and got out of dodge asap . We just don’t have the pulling power after years of neglect, even the Townsend and Shelvey deals are a case of second chance saloon for both players who have it all to prove. Really hope the Rhino nets a nice clutch of much needed goals for us and that Elliot stays fit too. Some decent signings but not where it really mattered. 7/10 for me, could do better.
kimtoon(Quote)
According too the daily star our offer Has gnoe up too 24 m but Odds have been slashed on berhino too Spurs
AXEL(Quote)
Sharpy – Why not go to £25m when they rejected the first offer? The fact is that WBA would only sell for an offer they couldn’t refuse. We didn’t feel we needed him that bad. I just hope we don’t live to regret it and our new striker isn’t another who needs time to settle as were no better off.
Stuart79(Quote)
STUART well not PL i agree but still canny goals and assits like
http://sabotagetimes.com/football/meet-the-goal-machine-striker-who-will-blast-newcastle-to-safety
icedog(Quote)
well thats it for me. the window is closed. lights off @st James & Charnley has been spotted @TGI fridays in the Gate.. ne deals are gonna happen
Doumbia looks a beast tho https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=poul9EoEYiM
gashley(Quote)
Alves at Boro scored goals galore until he arrived in the PL.
I’m not saying he’s not going to be any good, my point is that regardless of all the plaudits the club has had this window, they have reverted to type for the main part of the jig saw – the striker. They’ve gone for a cheap untried version. Now maybe they threw everything at getting a recognised, top quality striker but something tells me, if they had we’d have one signed.
Happy with Shelvey and Townsend as I believe they’re better than what we had but defence is neglected and attack is a risk.
Stuart79(Quote)
Stu – coz they are still waiting for a response 😆 . But that kind of contradicts your initial point – if it was obvious that Berahino wasn’t for sale, what would be the point in bidding £25m or £30m.
Sharpy17(Quote)
that Doumbia could be the perfect foil for Mitro (if selected)
gashley(Quote)
STUART79 289
sounds like ya writeing him off before hes even kicked a footie for us 😳
TOONARMYELITE(Quote)
Gash – so assuming we have no new injuries, how would you set up mate?
Sharpy17(Quote)
I have a feeling the Rhino will do well, he didn’t get that nick name for nowt.
kimtoon(Quote)
KIMTOON
<<<<<<<<<<<< has a sneaky feeling he aint ganna be knocked off the ball easy 😆
TOONARMYELITE(Quote)
I would play him alongside Mitrovic personally. We need another forward who will break their neck to get into the box. I think Perez is excellent but he doesn’t get into the box often enough for me.
Sharpy17(Quote)
TAE, exactly mate, at some point we have to hit lucky with a striker, hopefully it’s the Rhino.
kimtoon(Quote)
well we’ll soon find out
kimtoon(Quote)
KIMTOON
i think he will do well for us option on a permant deal also,we got the experienced striker we need,we aint had our eyeballs took out for a striker,we all still sat here wearing our shirts which we would not be if stu was in charge of transfers 😆 😆 😆
TOONARMYELITE(Quote)
I think probably 4-4-2
———————- Elliott ——————
Janmaat – Mbemba – Colo – Dummett
Sissoko – Shelvey – Gini – Townsend
——– Mitrovic ——- Rhino ———-
Sharpy17(Quote)
The rhino wont be playing against Everton i have read that he was registered too late for that game . Debut against WBA i guess.
AXEL(Quote)
So Remy is staying at Chelsea – both the club & the player don’t want him to leave this window. Another we could have done nowt to influence then.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Sharpy – Every player has a price and when WBA make it clear he’s not for sale they then know (as I think they were told) that a offer they couldn’t refuse was what was required. I think that was £25m and before the last hours of the window but they way as this late nobody can replace him. At the end of the day – the club have failed in their number one objective. If you’re happy with that, fair enough. I’m dissappointed.
TAE – Please read my post again before telling me I’ve written him off. Anything but – I just happen to think it’s a risk. I really hope he’s scores 10 goals and in the summer we can buy a Lazacette or a Berahino along with him permanently. I hope he’s a Cisse rather than a Luuk De Jong.
Stuart79(Quote)
Stu – if £25m was the price for a player who Pullis probably wants rid of now – then they would have likely let us know that another £4m would get the deal done. Some reports say we offered £24m so for the sake of a million they would have defo gave the green light.
You’re right though, every player has their price – we drove Liverpool up to £35m. Were Liverpool right to pay that much though? – I don’t think so at all.
We offered what we thought would get him. It looks likely he’s staying put, so it’s not like we’ve lost out to another club outbidding us – like we did with Bony to Swansea. That was unforgivable.
Sharpy17(Quote)
STUART79
hes scored goals in the champions league against both man utd and man city so he will score prem goals in my opinion.
TOONARMYELITE(Quote)
We will miss out on him though. This was our chance I reckon. Spurs will be in play in the summer I’m sure of that. Let’s just hope we start scoring goals.
Stuart79(Quote)
he defo likes scoreing against man city 5 goals hes scored against them in 4 champions league matchs so i dont see were you seeing the risk at not like we spent 25 mil on him is it bud 😉
TOONARMYELITE(Quote)
Hope so, TAE. But then again I wouldn’t want to judge a player on two games, after all, Luuk De Jong looked **** fine in the CL this season…
Just hope he has a start like Cisse did and that will depend on him getting an early goal I think. If we have the same problem ie lack of goals in the next couple of games the pressure will be immense on everybody.
Stuart79(Quote)
its a pity we wont get the lad as he was sounded out and said he would come to the toon,my only sad point is we didnt get a defender or two in 🙁
icedog(Quote)
Axel@325, It would be sweet if Rhino puts West Brom to the sword 😈
kimtoon(Quote)
I would like nothing more than giving WBA a fucking 6-0 thrashing with him scoring a hat trick!
Stuart79(Quote)
Watching the vids and Doumbia seems to have a bit about him, a real bundle of energy who likes to get stuck in…
A good addition to the squad, he’ll be a pain in the **** for defenders..
Munich Mag(Quote)
———- Elliott ——————
Janmaat – Mbemba – Colo
______ Saviet or Colback
Sissoko – Shelvey – Townsend
________Gini –
——– Mitrovic ——- Rhino ———-
gashley(Quote)
http://www.hitc.com/en-gb/2016/02/01/jamie-redknapp-reacts-to-newcastle-signing-seydou-doumbia-makes/page/1/
TOONARMYELITE(Quote)
15 games to go,how many games do we need to win to stay up i say six with a couple of draws,big ask imo
icedog(Quote)
Doumbia reminds me of Martins.. we havent had that kind player since Bellamy
gashley(Quote)
Thank God Gashley.
Stuart79(Quote)
ICEDOG
<<<<<<<<<<<<<< thinks 6 😉
TOONARMYELITE(Quote)
Stu – I genuinely understand your frustration mate, but we are not choosing to miss out on him from what I see.
It’s not like we’ve offered £21m and they’ve come back with £25m will get him and we’ve backed out – then I’d agree with you. But that’s not been the case. WBA have said he’s not for sale and it looks like he won’t be sold. There’s nowt else we can do about it, keep bidding and we look desperate.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Good effort from Boro paying £13m for Rhodes. Doesn’t matter even if he can’t cut it in the PL as if his goals get them there it will be a snip.
Stuart79(Quote)
DOOOOOOOMBIA!!!!
GeordieTwo(Quote)
What are Sunderflatulence up to with the Fletcher move? I’m very suspicious…… Hmmm…….
GeordieTwo(Quote)
We are desperate, Sharpy! I just think we had one shot at him and we missed out.
Stuart79(Quote)
Jamie Redknapp said: “Doumbia will get goals, he did great for CSKA. They’ve done enough, they are in the bottom three, but they have pretty much secured their safety.
“They’ve brought in players with pace, who can score goals, and have had the best window out of everybody.”
Shamrock(Quote)
lets be honest, WBA would be mental to sell him to us for the same reasons we want him. premier league survival.. whats 25mil when youre in the fizzy missing out on all of that tv money
gashley(Quote)
Ice – I think survival will be a low tally this season. I think 15 more points might be enough (36) but I’d be happier with 18 as you’ve suggested.
Sharpy17(Quote)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/teams/newcastle-united/fixtures games left
TOONARMYELITE(Quote)
Stu – I’m not sure WBA ever wanted to sell to us. They know they would be strengthening a rival club halfway through a season.
Sharpy17(Quote)
We need to win 30% of our remaining games imo. I am looking at the home games against, WBA, Bournemouth, Sunderland, Palace and Swansea. Need ten points from them if we can pick up a few away points.
Stuart79(Quote)
Sharpy, then I would imagine we should have had half an idea so we could concentrate on getting someone else?
Stuart79(Quote)
the games against the bottom teams are all must win games for us
TOONARMYELITE(Quote)
Another plus is the Rhino played in Moscow so he’s defo not gonna be phased by the cold NE 😀 Actually feel quite sorry for the lad, we all been so preoccupied with bloody Berahino that no ones really spoke much about him, he must be thinking, some welcome this is. Let’s hope his name gets a massive cheer on matchday. The dream scenario would be him being a big hit and as we have the option to buy him getting a sweet deal end of season. Would’nt need to give a penny to pease then, let Spuds and Leicester scrap it out. Anyway if we’re gonna push the boat out for a forward in the summer I would rather Lacazette than Berahino.
kimtoon(Quote)
Have to, simply have to thrash the Scum, we are surely due a win v them lot.
kimtoon(Quote)
How many different ways can West Brom tell us to flock off ?
What is it that “The Board” didn’t understand…
The West Brom owner has some nads if you as me….
Munich Mag(Quote)
TAE – God looking at those I still think it’s going to be difficult to string a run of wins together. I reckon we’re looking all the way to Villa for our 5th or 6th win – could be a few draws in there but only see 4 or 5 wins before Villa.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Sharpy, it’s squeaky bottom time mate and truth is it has been from day one.
kimtoon(Quote)
Gonna take more than 2 windows to fix the years of neglect and bad decisions .
kimtoon(Quote)
Basically we need to show Championship winning form to get comfortably clear. That won’t happen so I reckon it’s going to take until 1 or 2 weeks before the end of the season before we are safe – providing we start scoring.
Stuart79(Quote)
Kim – I hope I’m wrong and these new signings hit the ground running & we win some of those tougher games & security is achieved sooner. But I want to be realistic based on our form so far.
Sharpy17(Quote)
I read somewhere that Doumbia had scores 6 goals in 5 champions league games against English clubs for CSKA Moscow. If that’s true then that’s some going that and the dude knows where the back of the net is. I would say, yes that is the level we need. As Kim said earlier some of our best signings over the last ten years have come in ‘under the radar’ and with little expectation. I think Doumbia will get chances created for him looking at the midfield Macca is assembling, so good luck and enjoy it.
DJG(Quote)
DJG – I prefer him going under the radar, then there’s less pressure on the kid. Let’s just wait and see with him I say.
I think someone said it earlier but he was wanted in China and could have bagged himself a pot of gold – but he’s always wanted to test himself in the PL, so has come to us with the right attitude at least.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Wasn’t Demba Ba basically the second choice back up option in the window he signed for us and there was focus on his knee and failing medicals. I seem to remember that turning out an okay signing. ❗
DJG(Quote)
DJG – you’re talking the lad up too much mate. Comparing him with Ba is a lot of pressure to place on him.
Sharpy17(Quote)
I don’t want to place any pressure on the lad and I’m not expecting that he is going to single handedly pull us out of the clarts. It just seemed that some people were writing the dude off before he had even kicked a ball for us and that is wrong IMO. He hasn’t had a great experience with Roma but to be fair, that does happen and there are lots of reasons why a player doesn’t settle. Thauvin for example, I don’t think the kid ever wanted to come here to be honest with you. Marseille needed cash and lost A Ayew and Payet at the same time. All I’m saying is that this guy has scored against top English clubs before and is a full international, so I am expecting a certain amount of ability.
DJG(Quote)
DJG – I know mate, I did the same with Townsend. I’m just pulling your leg mate. As long as we see the lad putting a good shift in then that’s all we can ask of him.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Leroy Fer to Swansea then. The thing about windows is, teams around us can strengthen too….
Villa have signed nobody, so they are done for.
Bournemouth have signed Afobe (has hit ground running) along with Iturbe and Grabban, so they are better.
Norwich have signed several to give themselves more depth.
Swansea have signed Paloschi and Fer.
Watford have picked a couple up, West Brom too and the Scum .
I’d say West Brim, Watford and Sunderland have had the weaker transfer window out of the relegation candidates and for that reason I’m Gona say Scum will drop too.
That leaves us with West Brom, Swansea and Norwich. I think B’mth will be ok with their signings on-board.
West Brom are already 7 points ahead of us and have kept Berahino, so they will be ok.
That leaves us fighting Norwich and Swansea.
Swansea have 4 points on us and their midfield will cope without Shelvey, can we catch them?
I think we can do Norwich. They have more depth but not the quality. Even then, we need to put a run of results together… It will be close. Very close.
Have we done enough this window? I believe we could and should have done better and we will be in a real battle to stay up.
Btw Cabella has now officially left us for good.
Shamrock(Quote)
Got a good feeling about the Rhino, don’t panic lads we’ll be fine.
kimtoon(Quote)
Sham – the scum have let some players leave as though mate – Fletcher & Gomez could be handy in a relegation battle I reckon.
Villa & Scum gone in my opinion – who goes with them?!.
Sharpy17(Quote)
The bbc general consensus then is we’ve done alright business, that Thauvin is being loaned out to get game time and not to be got rid of, and that we will survive. Tend to agree on all points, I’d like to believe Thauvin will come back with fire in his belly but hard to see it at the moment…
Definitely think our squad is good enough to survive relegation, we shouldn’t have been near it anyway after the summer, and not that many of the sides around us have strengthened more than we have.
Newkie(Quote)
Doumbia seems to have good reviews and the supposed people in the know reckon he’s a much better fit for the PL than Italy. I’ve not seen much of the lad, but fingers crossed. He looks a handful from youtube but then so would I, after enough editing had taken place… 😀
Newkie(Quote)
Even bleeding Stoke have got a transfer record fee higher than us… That’s a club we could struggle to catch looking at their team now.
Stuart79(Quote)