With Newcastle set to make their eagerly anticipated Premier League return against Spurs at St. James’ Park next month, here’s three players we believe could surprise a few next season:
Florian Lejeune
He may not have been the Premier League proven centre half we were anticipating but Lejeune comes with a growing reputation in Spain. A late developer at 26, he arrives off the back of an impressive season with Eibar as they performed above expectations to secure a 10th place finish.
Florian Lejeune – 16/17 pic.twitter.com/U1C6Eqxi8K
— John (@jbxnufc) June 21, 2017
Trying to avoid the Dennis Wise style YouTube scouting, it has become clear that many La Liga experts feel he is a perfect fit for English football. Tall, athletic and with a decent turn of pace, he could prove to a shrewd addition at £8.7m, which is looking more and more like peanuts in the modern market.
He also has a point to prove after signing for Manchester City a few years back and never making an appearance for them. He has thrived at smaller clubs and now has the opportunity to deliver on the big stage and under a world class manager. With Newcastle already having Clark, Mbemba and Lascelles on the books, Rafa clearly feels Lejeune is a quality option to decide to bring him in. One to watch with interest next season.
DeAndre Yedlin
Yedlin has of course played in the Premier League before with both Tottenham and Sunderland. His electric pace and athleticism is there for all to see but he was often criticised for not having the positional sense or defending prowess to become a top Premier League full back.
His last loan spell at Sunderland seemed like a real improvement though and with the help of Big Sam, became far more solid defensively. As Newcastle fans know, Big Sam brings boring football but good organisation.
Yedlin continued to improve under Rafa last year and after a long tussle with Anita for the RB slot, made it his own by the end of the season. With Anita released, Rafa clearly sees Yedlin as mainstay of his squad next year. Like some others in the squad, not making the grade at other clubs and loan spells here and there will hopefully motivate Yedlin to push on next year.
Jonjo Shelvey
Shelvey is a player with plenty of top flight pedigree from spells with Swansea and Liverpool and even has been capped by England. He has however somewhat flattered to deceive; brilliant some weeks and invisible the next. Newcastle fans certainly witnessed his clear talent in the Championship last year, along with disciplinary issues.
He certainly won’t be given the same time on the ball to dictate games as he did last year, as we come up against far stronger opposition. He is coming up to his prime physically and can hopefully use his talent to put in some consistent performances next year. He returned to pre-season weeks earlier than needed to shed weight and be ready for the new year; so he clearly has a point to prove and is eager to surprise a few come August.
Newcastle clearly need more signings but Rafa will also be hoping the likes of Lejeune, Yedlin and Shelvey can step up next year. We do have a squad that will have a point to prove next year: Clark will want to prove his ability at the top level after an awful relegation with Villa, Perez needs to finally realise his potential and Dwight Gayle will be determined to finally become a Premier League regular. Here’s hoping our squad comes together ready for Tottenham come the 13th of August.
Let us know who you feel could be next seasons surprise package or shining light for NUFC?
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NEW: Murphy interest is talk of Norwich dressing room – as Farke says he’ll join Germany tour.
Well, this is a joke now, just leave it and move on to next on the list, we aren’t tryng to buy Messi ffs
kimtoon(Quote)
Yes, we should stop farke-ing around.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Eric, 🙂
Seriously mate, don’t want us neglecting other positions due to protracted talks over a championship player ffs. We’ve done this before, spent yonks on one target who we fail to get in then what do you know, windows shut 🙄
Either pay up or walk away
kimtoon(Quote)
That said, the transfer window closes August 31st so there is still 6 weeks to go. We shouldn’t be getting too worked up. The Championship starts August 4 and I expect to see Hanley, Darlow and Daryl Murphy shifted by then or soon after.
I am not seeing that much frustration on this site and I still think Rafa will come up with some players from his contacts in Spain and Italy. I think what is a bit frustrating is seeing how much some just-better-than-average players are going for and how much is being asked for good-but-not-great players.
Walker is the prime example. He is a good player, no doubt. But the most expensive defender in history???!!!
What the hell would Marcelo cost? He is 3 times the player that Walker is, so 150 million 🙂 🙂 🙂
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Also, we have enough British players to not worry about the home grown rule. After Murphy, I think we should give up on Championship and PL players apart from maybe a loan and a Man City reject. It is all getting a bit silly now.
I half expect the Chairmen and Managers to be dressed up in clown suits when making the announcement like in that Monty Python political by-election skit.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
And, if this carries on I think Malcolm McDonald’s head will explode. He has always been a cantankerous old git but seeing the money being talked about for fees and wages I can imagine him at the Pub going on nonstop about “in my day, like”. And he would be right because I cannot imagine what Cryuff, Van Baston or Gurd Muller would cost now. Even Lineker, who I think was underrated.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
I know this is a tangent but Supermac has always reminded me of that Harry Enfield character Angry Frank. Sat down the pub pontificating and getting himself more and more worked up.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
30 million for Josh King? 22 goals in 67 PL games. This is a difficult one because he looked good towards the end of last season. But does 6 good months make you worth 30 million? Apparently.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Anatomy of a transfer market gone mad: of course you’ve got yer mega new TV deal and yer nothing clubs like Huddersfield and Bournemouth suddenly nouveaux riche, but you also have yer…
* Oligarch looking to win the Champions League in style this time
* Sheikh looking to satisfy the needs of a previously ultra successful Manager
* Fallen Giant and marketing machine looking to reclaim past glories
* “Money Ball” Liverpool run by Hedge Funder and with title ambitions to reclaim even longer fallen giant status
* Le ****, a combination of all of the above apart from the Sheikh.
* Spurs, another Hedge Fund manager become Chairman. 800 million stadium to pay for and looking for that one icing on the cake signing which unfortunately for them was not Sissoko.
I really don’t think we can compete in this arena but it explains prices.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Wall Street has come to Main Street as they say over here (City Centre in UK). You have your rich Arabs, Jews and New England and City Hedge Funders all fighting it out and losing the soul of football.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Football lost it’s soul the minute Sky got involved Eric, fecking hate Murdoch .
kimtoon(Quote)
Eric
http://c.newsnow.co.uk/A/894033533?-11058:809:3
If that’s the article you’re referring to I wouldn’t pay too much attention mate. The guy in the photo is Callum Wilson – not Josh King ?
Sharpy17(Quote)
I like Josh King but £30m (whilst probably fair the way this market is going) is too much IMO.
If the rumours are true, Andre Gray could be got for £12m – i personally think that’s better value for money.
But also Hernandez is available for £13m – and he would be the one I would be working flat out on.
If we had £30m to spend on King, I would rather spend the £25m on getting Gray & Hernandez personally.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Uncle Ed also says King is English, then Norwegian. I think he meant PL.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Sorry about the (yet another) rant. NUFC is quiet at the moment with not really any transfers to get excited about and really pretty **** friendlies arranged so I thought I might stir up some trouble by mentioning Jews and Arabs 🙂
Mainz, and the Wolfsburg reserves!!!! Hellas Verona !!!!!
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Ditto. No brainer.
shamrock(Quote)
same here lads
kimtoon(Quote)
would be thrilled to see Hernandez in a toon shirt
kimtoon(Quote)
Yeah it woild get us fans excited for sure.
shamrock(Quote)
I’m interested to see how things go in the pre-season for De-Jong, Aarons, Armstrong and maybe Saivet. If De-Jong & Aarons could only stay fit I think they would be in the first team, nevermind squad players. Armstrong I want to see get a chance – personally I would keep him as a squad player now rather than loan him out again.
Saivet, I just don’t know about – I think he’s out the door but trouble is who takes him on current form?!.
I know a French club was interested in Rivière so hope that comes off.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Loic Remy?
Sharpy17(Quote)
Sham, mate. There is sort of nowt going on at the minute like. Calm before the storm, hopefully.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Agree with most of that, man. Saivet I have no idea about. What, he played like 20 minutes for us and then disappeared back to France.
Armstrong is 6 months older than Abraham so time to **** or get off the pot. No more loans. Put him on for the last 20 minutes and have him and Mitro sink or swim.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
You have to write off Riviere. Bad buy, get rid. A Marceleno or Amdy Faye. They happen, pay up the contract and tell him to fck off.
He played 15 games for Osasuna last year and scored NO GOALS. I think that we have to accept the fact that he is ***** and just get rid.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
I watched a couple of Osasuna games last year and Riviere was invisible.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
They have some friendlies starting over here in the US in the next few days. A few small teams playing each other … Real Madrid, Barcelona and Man U in a tournament. To expand their brand (I hate that term, but so what).
No Bradfords or Scottish Pub League teams.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Eric – I was trying to figure out if Saivet has ever really had much time under Rafa or if he was loaned out when Rafa came then again last season. The French manager he was with last season said he seemed to have lost that fire in his belly – that doesn’t make him a bad player, just means Rafa may need to work on his mental game. If you’ve got a manager like Rafa backing you, can’t imagine it would take long to re-find your form like.
I’d rather give that a go first before even thinking about shelling £20m out on McCarthy.
Armstrong needs a chance. I think his game is pretty similar to that of Gayle, and he could be good back up for him whilst he continues his development. I would keep him with the first team squad to start the season. If he’s not getting much game time, loan him out in January.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Broken record, broken record. But if Brighton can set up Athletico Madrid and Bounemouth Valencia then why do we settle for Bradford, Hellas Verona and Heart of Midlothian?
There has to be some reckoning. We should have competence (he said ranting 🙂 ).
Eric Sykes(Quote)
This preseason stuff is part about getting ready for the season and part about marketing (expanding the brand, I know, that term again!). So why the Fck are we playing nobodies? Mainz is a nothing German team and we are playing Wolfsburg reserves at their reserves’ stadium.
Hellas Verona. Does anybody know who they are? Second in the second division.
But Romeo and Juliet!!!! Would have been a better place to travel to (its nice, been there) than bring their team to SJP.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
According to Chronicle, Newcastle’s 2nd bid on Murphy is $10M and Norwich’s evaluation on him is $12M. Can we just pay the $12M to get over it? $2M is really not that big a difference in today’s market.
funrafa(Quote)
Rafa – I think it’s £10m up front with add ons that would take it up to £12m – or that’s what I read. They want £12m up front though
Sharpy17(Quote)
Well I heard it’s sorted,medical to do
Icedog(Quote)
Still not a big difference if that is the case. for me it is a no-brainer – pay it and move to the next one.
funrafa(Quote)
Really really really??? If that is true it will make my day. Your source?
funrafa(Quote)
Picture and storey that Murphy was on plane to Germany,afraid they are wrong it was his brother (twin)
Icedog(Quote)
A friend of Perter B,mind he’s been wrong before but don’t think so on this one like
Icedog(Quote)
Perter B down watching the final of the tennis
Icedog(Quote)
past caring tbh
NEXT
kimtoon(Quote)
Thanks Ice!
funrafa(Quote)
Isn’t he sat next to his brother on plane ?
kimtoon(Quote)
funrafa(Quote)
ok, I see your point. It’s just everything works for us in this deal – rafa wants Murphy; Murphy has a strong intention to join us; the evaluation difference is not that big. If we can’t complete this deal, I don’t know what deal we can complete. So I seriously hope Ice’s source is correct.
funrafa(Quote)
Because we shouldn’t be dragging the heels over a championship player, that’s why. End of the day £12m is nowt in this market and we look like paupers.
kimtoon(Quote)
The guy of great knowlage (Ryder) not,says it was not him but his twin on the plane,now who would say he’s wrong lol
Icedog(Quote)
Agree 100% mate,Hoots and Huddersfield out spending us,they have been in the ccc a while so where is the money come from for them,they are taking a chance and know if they still go down there’s a mim of 120 mil to soften the blow from the PL
Icedog(Quote)
Ice, I guess we’ll soon find out.
kimtoon(Quote)
IMO if Penfold pulls the money from this one on jabba orders Rafa will walk
Icedog(Quote)
We will look rich in this winter window when we are at bottom 3. That is Ashley’s style.
funrafa(Quote)
IMO Ashley doesn’t care!
funrafa(Quote)
They’re not twins.
georgio(Quote)
My mistake – was thinking of Gibson bros.
georgio(Quote)
Hellas Verona. Don’t know but Cerci just moved there on a free and I was thinking he would be good for us
Premandup(Quote)
Our club is un-real,hold up being Penfold wants to pay the fee in instalments ffs
Icedog(Quote)
A guy called Diego Rolan looks swt to join Fulham for £5m. Is he not somebody we were after a year or two ago? Sounds familiar.
shamrock(Quote)
I would agree about the Murphy deal if there was a risk of loosing the player or the deal not coming off – but that doesnt look to be the case.
The player wants to come to us & it sounds like a medical is arranged – so why not look to negotiate the best deal?.
Sham – with all the players we get linked with every window, it probably is a name you recognise – but if he’s going to Fulham for £5m, can he be that good? – I don’t know, I don’t know the player at all mate.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Good point Sharpy. We must have been linked with just about every player in the world at some point, bar the good ones 🙂 The Chronicle hacks have to write about something and planting a story seems to be the order of their day. It takes four of them to make stuff up, I wonder how many it would take to change a lightbulb (there must be a joke in there somewhere).
What annoys me about The Chronic is that they all write about f-all. Never doing any research or anything original. All have been to the Alan Oliver and John Gibson school of journalism and now the Ryder school of blah and bland.
I think Oliver and Gibson might have actually had some contacts at Benwell and SJP but this lot just write clickbait.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Here’s a go. How many Chronic hacks does it take to change a lightbulb? I don’t know, but Lee Ryder would take the freebee junket to the States or Ireland and then have room service come up and do it.
Any paper that calls Mick Quinn a “legend” lost all credibility a long time ago.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Not that funny, but you get the point. That Ryder and his clueless crew (copywrite Troy Stavers) never actually do anything. They may as well just employ some YTS kid with an iPhone at Newcastle airport and the Central Station to take a pic of incomings for all the actual reporting they do.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Lazaar, Krul, Riviere and Mbemba left put of 27 man squad to travel to Ireland training camp. Also Armstrong left behind. Not looking good for him.
shamrock(Quote)
*left out
shamrock(Quote)
Having lots of problems with this site again last few days. Security certificate warning popping up and refusing to go away like it always used to. Freezing , buffering , not loading ,taking for ever to type a post. Have had to keep shutting down and restarting just so I can post a comment. Other sites seem fine apart from newsnow which has it’s own problems.
Am I the only one having problems here ?
kimtoon(Quote)
Sham, feel a bit sorry for Arma, don’t think he’s ever really gotten a chance tbh
kimtoon(Quote)
Had nee problems mate on laptop or tablet,is it not your internet??,have you got your parent control on as that can sometimes give you probs,I know if I have parent control on my digi-box gives me all sorts of probs,just a thought mate
Icedog(Quote)
SHARPY,a 61 yr old woman drowned in the bay today mate caught in that under-current I told you about,please be careful with laddie don’t go to far out
Icedog(Quote)
Ice – God that’s horrible mate. It happened to someone when we were out in Jersey – right nee sea for us!!.
Is the blue lagoon and Gozo pretty save mate or is it all the same bit of coast line?
Sharpy17(Quote)
Sham – well I get the 1st 3 on that list, but I thought there might have been a chance for Mbemba & Armstrong.
Have to be honest, why would any of our young uns hang about when these players aren’t getting a chance. Armstrong might not go on to be the next Rooney or Kane, but he looks good enough to at least get a chance.
It could of course be that players are getting left behind coz they are carrying an injury – but Armstrong came on against Hearts, so think that’s unlikely.
If we don’t want to pay these huge fees then we’ve should be invest in these players.
Sharpy17(Quote)
NO mate, it’s only this site gives me problems. Have to keep reopening tab for it as when I come back to it, it won’t work properly. Can switch to other links up no problems. 🙁
kimtoon(Quote)
Exactly, said the same the other day.
kimtoon(Quote)
SHARPY no mate diff coast line everywhere the beachs are dead safe in Malta loads of people snorkel and dive never had any bother,that bay is great for little ones as they don’t go to far out great to cool off in,just a few of those know-all heroes think they can handle the deep there,they cannot I watched them shouting for their mates to come help them,arseholes,youwill be safe in Malta mate,plus nee sharks lol
Icedog(Quote)
Ime sorry then mate cannot help you,plus Ime nee whiz kid on comps
Icedog(Quote)
Mbemba cannot go some visa problems with him
Icedog(Quote)
KIM you have past it on,three time the site has said we are having problems with web page and have re-loaded it,lol
Icedog(Quote)
Thanks mate, it’s something we will be conscious of out there now. He loves to snorkel so we’ll see how we get on.
We were swimming with turtles, stingrays and sharks in Mexico mate. Well nursing Sharks – but they still count ?.
I’d love to cage dive with the great whites though – bucket list job that.
Sharpy17(Quote)
That would explain him. May be a fair reason for Armstrong too.
I’m taking the boy to the Gateshead friendly next weekend so hopefully those players will be playing
Sharpy17(Quote)
Funny it’s pups life dream to go and and dive with great whites too,his too will have to wait he’s just bought four bedroom three bathroom house,plus he’s up to his eyes trying to raise as much money as he can he wants to build a park for disabled kids as he says they miss out on too much a bank will help if he gets so much
Icedog(Quote)