Nothing fails to surprise you with former Newcastle United boss Alan Pardew, and the 56-year old has claimed on Sky Sports that he ‘scouted’ Arsenal’s Alexandre Lacazette during his time at Lyon, claiming the Frenchman was always on his radar.
It’s true that Lacazette was a player we were heavily linked before his rise to stardom, but the fact Pardew claims he was the man to scout him is quite shameless – it was more than likely our former scout Graham Carr who would’ve unearthed him during his several scouting missions in France.
Anyhow, here’s what Pardew had to say about Newcastle’s interest in Arsenal’s new £45m man Alexandre Lacazette:
“I scouted him the last three or four years – we had good contacts in France, especially at Newcastle and his name kept coming up, kept coming up and every year he delivers.
“We couldn’t afford him. It was a logistical problem! He was always on the radar, though. I was surprised Arsenal had a free run at him.”
If memory serves me right, Newcastle were also one of the first clubs to make a move for Pierre Emerick Aubameyang during his time at St. Ettiene, however like Luka Modric and Alexandre Lacazette, he is another case of what could have been for the club.
Apparently he was at the Newcastle training ground years ago, they've should've locked him in until he signed for 10yrs!!
— Stephen Harper (@steveharper37) August 8, 2017
Talk about splitting hairs.
Pardew was running the club and Carr was working for him
Is there no end to fickle fans hatred for the regime?
Rob(Quote)
I agree! Totally pathetic. Lyon obviously didn’t want to let him go, so there were probably quoting stupid money for a relatively unproven striker at the time.
We had a chance for Modric and he chose to go to a London club, with more money and a better chance of European football. Same with Alli. And Aubameyang went to Dortmund to play in the CL I believe?
Just look at the relatively poor progress of some players that fans were demanding we sign at the time and where they are now…I remember Zaki, but more recently Bony, Austin, Tom Ince, Lennon, Delph, Cleverly, Andy Carroll…loads of bullets we dodged!
ToonDarnSarf(Quote)