By Joe Donnohue
Try before you buy. It’s a familiar concept and one which has most recently been adopted by Newcastle United. The loan signings of Martin Dúbravka and Kenedy in January of this year set the tone for the Magpies’ successful end-of-season charge into the top half of the Premier League table.
Competition for places was created in positions where Newcastle had lacked real Premier League quality. Consistent performances from the loanees were the bedrock to Newcastle’s upturn in form, something which had been missing from the likes of Christian Atsu, Jacob Murphy, Rob Elliot and Karl Darlow throughout the campaign.
The capture of Dúbravka earlier this summer was a signal that Newcastle’s intent was to strengthen, as is the case with every Premier League club, but familiar warning signs were afoot. The deal to bring the Slovakian international to St James’ Park on a permanent basis was a cheap one; a reported €2m loan fee followed by a €4m fee to sign the stopper outright.
Contrastingly, a deal to sign Kenedy would be altogether much more expensive. A 22-year-old Brazilian winger who had impressed during his short stint on Tyneside would not come cheap, if at all. Earlier rumours were purported to have said that some of Europe’s biggest clubs were monitoring Kenedy’s progress and situation with parent club Chelsea, leaving many Newcastle supporters resigned to the feeling that the silky Brazilian would not be returning to the North East any time soon.
Nevertheless, the left-sided winger – full name Robert Kenedy Nunes Nascimento, named after the famous U.S. President – has now rejoined the club, albeit on another loan deal. We are yet to find out concretely if an option-to-buy clause will be included or any obligatory future fees, but that would be crucial in securing a real talent and again show Newcastle’s intent to really compete, rather than idling by, securing safety from relegation but never threatening to challenge any further than 10th place.
Newcastle United are not known to have been particularly savvy in their loan dealings – the names Seydou Doumbia, Luuk de Jong and Facundo Ferreyra do little to set Black and White pulses racing – but the addition of Kenedy for the forthcoming season is one which certainly screams of intent. Newcastle, and most importantly Rafa Benítez, appear to not be content with rolling over and letting big clubs beat them to key targets, something which they could be accused of doing in the past.
There is no escaping the fact that United do not have the financial freedom to spend ridiculous sums of money in the transfer market. The now infamous, “I can not and will not” statement perhaps holds more weight than the publication of the club’s accounts when it comes to analysing how much will be spent in the transfer window.
Supporters of a realist disposition recognise that in the current climate, a deal to bring a promising young talent back to the club following an impressive few months is a step in the right direction. A small step, that much is true, but it is an indication that what goes on behind the scenes, despite a certain Spaniard having one hand tied behind his back, is shifting ever so slightly in favour of what is best for the club.
One thing must be made clear however, at no point does this suggest that a certain SportsDirect tycoon’s stance regarding the club’s spending has changed, nobody can know that apart from the notoriously tight-lipped man himself. What it does suggest though, is that by hook or by crook, Benítez is chipping away at the marble that is Newcastle United Football Club.
He may be armed with a rock-hammer rather than a chisel, but the permanent signing of Dúbravka, the re-signing of Kenedy and any other business – which looks likely with just one month remaining in the transfer window – indicates a step in the right direction towards Benítez’s vision for the club.
It may only be the club’s attitude towards loan signings, but beggars cannot be choosers and Newcastle United supporters know better than most, any forward step large or small is worth appreciating after a very sparse decade in that regard.
Prem: I never understood why Townsend would be for sale because every time I watched Palace he played well. As I have said on here before there have been wild fluctuations in his possible price. Never say never, but I don’t blame Mr Roy for wanting to keep him.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
like Barkley,never given chance at Chelsea,would have played for England but for injurys
icedog(Quote)
pointless speculating lads, you know full well we’ll get what ever’s left over or a loan for up front.
From Mikes point of view less time we sign a player is less weeks on wages.
kimtoon(Quote)
Oh dear
kimtoon(Quote)
These players we are linked with, is any of it true. Plea went for 22 million when we SUPPOSEDLY offered 20. Of course he says it was his dream to join Gladbach after he signs, that’s what every player says. And is Townsend just angling for a new contract.
Silly season has become stupid season and I don’t believe a word the papers say.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Surprised Trippier started today he looked well injured at the end of the semi
kimtoon(Quote)
At least if we get beat I will not have to google famous Belgians again to tell them their boys took a hell of a beating. I had come up with fictional characters like Tin Tin and Peroit but then was stumped. Eddie Merx? Is he Belgian?
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Belgium are gonna slaughter us, we look so fragile
kimtoon(Quote)
Both teams look like they came to play. I really made a mistake on that Mackem goalie but it was based on some iffy performances last year.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
So far Premier League A team against PL B Team.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
What a chance kane
kimtoon(Quote)
England look like they could score but Belgium playing like Man City. On 34 minutes I wouldn’t have liked this as the final.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
You have to think that Belgium really screwed up against France. They are better than France.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
totally Eric, way better
kimtoon(Quote)
off the bloody line
kimtoon(Quote)
great save
kimtoon(Quote)
And that’s that, as they say
outclassed
kimtoon(Quote)
England do lack any world class players. Kane looked off the pace. Nobody who could open things up. Stirling has the pace, but gives the ball away. Need about 3 or 4 top players to get into the top class of National Teams.
PremAndUp(Quote)
Well that played out pretty much as I expected… England just didn’t look like they wanted to win and a Kane absent for the last 3 games… Belgium wanted it more and got it. I will not lose sleep over it.
My only regret is that my boss is Belgian and he will give me a hard time in the office tomorrow… he likes to gloat…
So now to focus on the Toon and all those amazing new players we will get in… ??. …. oh… wait…. never mind.
Dubai Toon(Quote)
I doubt that England will make the semis in 2 years time. Spain, Portugal & Germany to deal with, Not to mention Italy & Holland coming back. Quarter Finals should be minimum, but Semis who knows.
PremAndUp(Quote)
England were miles off Belgium today. We had chances but there was never much of the game where I thought we had them overly concerned.
When you consider how off the boil the likes of Germany, Brazil and Spain have been and are unlikely to be again, I think this was our best chance in a long time.
I know we are a young side and can develop, but we need another goal scorer to take some of the pressure off Kane and need greater creativity imo.
Sharpy17(Quote)
At least Sharpy
PremAndUp(Quote)
Prem – great minds, I was half way through writing my post when little bollocks wanted me to help him so came back to it. It’s right though, I don’t think we’ll see a tournament where all of the big teams perform as badly as they have this one.
Sharpy17(Quote)
A semi final appearance is not a true reflection of where England is. Beat ?? (just) and ??, lost to ?? twice, beat ?? and ?? and lost to ?? .
Basically England is the International version of NUFC. A decent side treading water, but as soon as it matters, they bottle it. It was great that it galvanised the Country a little, but I fully exoect the press and twatters to expwct far more than England is capable of in the Euros, resulting in a public flogging of several of the players and Southgate. Sad really. We ahoukd be hoping for the last 8 again, if we do well – but I guarantee that wont be good enough for most.
Shamrock(Quote)
Sterling was bloody **** as he was last game,couldnt hold the ball with glue on his boots
icedog(Quote)
Sharpy: there is some strange stuff going on here. He didn’t just send this girl a picture of his “toned abs” as The Star say, he sent her a **** pic. The article is dated May 14, 2017. I am not sure if it was referencing earlier WhatsApp messages but he has an infant child so this could have been happening when his girlfriend was pregnant. Hard to tell but he does talk some rubbish.
Now Ryder is saying he wants to be close to his family currently based in the South WEST. Could be a typo knowing Ryder but who is he going to play for there, Bristol City?
Eric Sykes(Quote)
I don’t doubt that Hayden wants to move back south but it sounds like an excuse AFTER his agent has sounded out a few clubs. Whatever, he wont be missed much.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Sham: England are winning the younger age group tournaments and that is usually a very good sign. Most of our players will be in their prime at the next Euros where anything could happen. Portugal won the last one with far from the best team and their best player injured after about 20 mins in the final.
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2018/jul/13/england-future-sessegnon-sancho-foden-gareth-southgate
Eric Sykes(Quote)
As well, it wouldn’t surprise me if the mother of Hayden’s child has put her foot down after that Daily Star type shyte and demanded he be with them. That may only be the tip of the iceberg and his family “emergency” could be a family “ultimatum”
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Mackems draw with Hartlepool. This Jack Ross guy better be the second coming of Brian Clough because they only have one shot at this. Ellis Short has set this up so he gets the parachute payment if these 2 new Chancers fail, or even if they succeed. Being in the Championship is no guarantee of getting outside funding – just look at Villa. Worrying times for our Red and White friends.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Anyone see the Everton score? 22-0 ??
Sharpy17(Quote)
You have to be f@cking kidding me. The World Cup Final is tomorrow and the Daily Mail top story is Wazzzza starting on the bench for bottom of the league DC United! He has some seriously good PR people if they can turn this pile of **** into gold.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-5954723/DC-United-vs-Vancouver-Whitecaps-LIVE-Wayne-Rooney-set-MLS-bow.html
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Seriously man, he has just been dumped by Man U, England and Everton and turns up in a vastly inferior league saying he wanted it all along? The papers are still kissing Rooney’s giant ****. Why? He will fail in MLS, I promise you.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
What a strange WC for England. With the easiest possible draw they still managed to lose to the 2 decent teams they played. And no mistake they were totally outplayed with a bunch of overrated players all over the pitch. We were rated 12th before the tournament and despite making the semis should be no higher now.
Back to the real stuff – Grenier as a Hayden replacement? Or should it be a proper DM which today probably means African. New signings and significant ones at that urgently needed. We must have some bloody money!
Mindblowing stat for NUFC fans. In the late 1940s Albert Stubbins played 188 games and scored 231 goals. Amazing and he never gets a mention.
georgio(Quote)
Georgio, dont you mean 186 games and 80 goals? Still impressive, but not quite astronomical.
Shamrock(Quote)
So the club have strengthened its scouting network. Why? Isn’t it a bit like a tramp with zero money hiring an estate agent?
Stuart79(Quote)
😆 😆 😆
icedog(Quote)
Have we signed a forward yet ?
kimtoon(Quote)
Georgio I think the FIFA rankings are fairly unreliable. Japan who were 61 before the tournament got out of their group which included Poland 9, Columbia 16 and Senegal 27 before giving Belgium a run for their money as good as us. Columbia topped that group.
Sweden 24 meanwhile topped their group which included Mexico 15 and Germany 1 before beating Switzerland 6 who had impressed against Brazil.
My point being writing Columbia and Sweden off as not decent teams does them an injustice. Yes we beat them, and well, but I think that reflects the progress we have made. You are right that Croatia and Belgium who were ranked 3 in the world before this were better than us, but to refer to Hazard and de Bruyne as a bunch of overrated players does them an injustice. I would expect to see England move up the rankings, but only to 9 or 10.
PremAndUp(Quote)
Prem – the overrated players I mentioned were England’s! I thought Sweden were very poor and we only edged Colombia on pens. Last minute goal to get past Tunisia too. Take off the rose tinted specs 😆
Sham – I saw that but the stat I posted was from the normally very reliable NUFC.com just on Friday. Maybe they included war time goals and your stat didn’t.
Back to NUFC today. As far as I know we’ve got £40m PL/tv money. £10m for Merino. £10m payments from earlier transfers and still to come another £30m for Mitro and Hayden. Surely we can afford 2-3 very decent players for that.
georgio(Quote)
I was pleasantly surprised to see England have a go for once and try to play on the front foot. I don’t think our squad matched up with Belgium and 3 or 4 of the Croatia players are in the form of their lives, especially Modric and Perisic. There is a reason they are in the final. That said, Southgate was a bit tactically naïve and could not, or would not, make adjustments.
I have come out of this tournament at least enjoying the England games which I could not say about most in the last 20 years. Brasil and South Africa were like being in a dentist’s chair. The last Euros was about playing **** teams and getting continually frustrated by misplaced passes.
I think the future is very bright for this young squad with other players coming through. Getting rid of the old guard who played with fear helped and we look like we can at least take a corner and free kick now.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
I think there is an element of everybody we beat were rubbish and we are light-years behind those who beat us. I’m merely arguing for a more balanced view. I’m not suggesting that you are too far off the mark, you are right many of our players are overated. We lacked any form of creativity and most are not starters for a top 6 club. It would not surprise me to find ourselves in the top seeded pot for Euro 2010
PremAndUp(Quote)
I think it will be between Modric, De Bruyne and MBappe for player of the tournament so I think we came up against some quality. Hazard being touted as 150 million to Mardrid and he wasn’t bad either. Flop of the tournament has to be Neymar. Yes he was hacked off the field but his prancing pony histrionics were a disgrace for someone of his talent. He should watch Messi and learn, but even Lionel has been waving imaginary cards recently.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
soz 2020
PremAndUp(Quote)
What the hell has happened to the Ings price? It was said that Liverpool were willing to let him go for a reasonable fee with 9 million quoted, now the Chronic say 20 million. I have no idea if he is worth that as he has played so little. Off the top of my head it is 6 PL starts in 3 years so I really haven’t seen much of him and a lot of his reputation was built in The Championship which we don’t get in the US.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Can a player with 6 PL starts in 3 years really be worth 20 million?
Eric Sykes(Quote)
no . move on if that price is true Eric. If Mitro is only valued at £20m and he’s fit and scoring , at least under Fulham and Serbias system anyway. Then how can an injury ravaged Ings be £20m ?
total bollocks, fairy tale price.
kimtoon(Quote)
If we really can get 10 million for Hayden isn’t that a blessing in disguise? I am sure we could get an upgrade for that money. The Chronic had a transfer estimator app in one of their articles asking readers to predict his price. I put in 2 million (not as a joke) but the average was 9 million so a lot of people are seeing something that I haven’t.
And back to transfers. It seems that most of the links are us picking over the bones of the relegated teams. Or maybe that is lazy journalists who have no idea of who Rafa is looking at abroad?
Eric Sykes(Quote)
He’s had ligament surgery on both knees. As a reference we can use Big Al whose surgery took all of the pace out of his game and he had to adjust. The type of surgery Ings has had used to end players’ careers and he has had 2. With our transfer budget I don’t think we risk 20 million -IF that figure is true.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
So I take it our new scouting team are for searching out freebies and loans then, cause it’s certainly not for buying anyone. 🙄
kimtoon(Quote)
People can’t complain about the price of Ings when you consider we want £20m for a striker who is unproven in the PL and someone paid £22m for a midfielder from Norwich who has never played in the PL.
To go back to georgio’s point about the money we have. There is a clearly a huge issue at the club at the moment. Rafa won’t commit until his future until the club show some ambition and urgency and the club won’t show that until Rafa commits. That’s impacting on the transfer business imo. We’ve spent nothing yet. We’re in the black. Rafa won’t sanction the sale of Mitro until he has a replacement – why would he…?
Stuart79(Quote)
I am getting fed up with The Chronic but I still read it. They throw out every BS rumour and then refute and contradict it the next day. I know they are bad journalists but where else do you get the local spin? Ryder and pals must be down the training ground, outside SJP, on pre-season so they must have some access? Right?
Olly does a good job with contacting other teams’ fans but a lot on here is repeating what the papers say. Same with Uncle Ed who is 3,000 miles away and doesn’t seem to have any direct access or contacts.
NUFC.com seem to have connections but they don’t really do speculation and only mention deals when they are just about done. The Chronic recently have just seemed to pull names out of a hat (their ****).
Eric Sykes(Quote)
If that’s what Lpool want for him I’m pretty sure he’ll still be their player is that price – so be it.
But as Kim says, move on – go and get a CF now ffs so he has a few weeks pre season with Rafa.
To be fair, Ings was never a known target of ours. We’ve been linked with him but no bids, so we don’t know how devastating this news is.
But we need to get moving if Rafa wants 4 new signing in – as there will be other deals to work on as well – Hayden and Ritchie replacements if sold.
Sharpy17(Quote)
For some reason we get a lot of Palace live games here and the Pub I go to has a Palace Supporters Group. So I have seen a lot of Andros. He has been their 2nd best player behind Zaha and probably on par with Loftus Cheek. Why would Mr Roy want to sell him. I never got it in the first place unless Townsend was pushing for a move.
Then the price has been 17, 20, 25 and 27 million. But what’s 10 million between friends eh?
I suppose they save to sell papers/generate clicks and it has always been so.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Apparently Ings turned us down twice previously anyway so it’s doubtful he’d of come even if we had bid.
I still wouldn’t be happy spending that on a player who has had two career threatening injuries.
Mitro is worth £20m all day long to Fulham, he scores for them, forget it was the championship, it was the system he played in that worked for him/them. Feed the beast and he will score .
If Bristol City can get £10m (bargain by the way ) for Bobby Reid then Mitro is worth double all day long.
Ings has played 6 times as Eric says, proper crocked and likely lost a shed load of pace as a result, we need someone proven or with massive potential, not likely to break down once the games are coming thick and fast.
kimtoon(Quote)
In summary, we are linked with:
* Players with contract clauses
* Players with dodgy knees
* Picking over the bones of relegated teams
* Ex-players
* Loans from teams Rafa has worked at.
I am guessing that is part Ashley’s policy and part lazy journalism/no contacts. But, you know we will probably end up with a couple of Rafa specials of players we have never heard of and 99% of the speculation will have been just rubbish.
I think my speculation overload meter has reached about 95%!!! 🙂
Eric Sykes(Quote)
I think this happens every transfer window but it seems more this year – speculation fatigue. It has just seemed a constant loop of the same names in The Chronic and I don’t think they had that live feed until recently. I read it when I know I shouldn’t but at least I know better than to listen to most of their podcasts (book reports).
Eric Sykes(Quote)
So basically there are no VIABLE links apart from Rondon. Ings’ price has doubled, Palace are not selling Andros and we were never in for players like Loftus Cheek in the first place 🙂 Thanks guys, now go down to the cafeteria and get me a nice cup of tea because that is all you are good for.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
#chronicteaboys 😆
kimtoon(Quote)
Who though??
Olly has just put up another article we are trying to hijack Andre Ayew going to Turkey – probably just paper talk coz we’ve never hijacked a deal yet.
But that’s the type of player I see us going with – or being left with should I say. Rondon or that stiff from Villa we’ve been linked with.
I paid quite a bit of attention to our stats last season and we were creating plenty of chances – probably around an average of 15 per game over the season. But the shots on target and conversion rate was poor. I picked that up from a search on an IPhone – I would hope it’s a bit more advanced at SJP. But it’s as plain as day where our problem lies – quality up front.
I can’t say I’ve seen us being linked with any real quality up front. Better than what we have, yes – but when Gayle only gets 6 goals and Joselu 4, that ain’t too difficult to achieve better.
At the moment we are being linked with players I think could maybe get around 10 goals a season. That’s better, but true ambition would be looking at forwards who could get 15 maybe more.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Roy saying Townsend not for sale – fine, don’t sell Ritchie then for me. We don’t need to sell him, he’s a good grafter and is decent in terms of delivery.
Possibly Antonio from WH, but I’d be more than happy to keep Ritchie.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Sharpy: I think Gayle was unlucky last year and would keep him. If it happens again this year then it is a pattern and he is simply not good enough in a higher standard of football.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Ritchie seems to go through quiet spells but he took Chelsea apart. I think it is pretty much like for like with Townsend with it coming down to Rafa’s preference.
The transfer stuff is like a pantomime now – we bid/want to sell … Oh, yes we did, oh no we didn’t, oh yes we did, oh no we didn’t. Now can we divide the audience into girls versus boys (Mail vs Chronic) and when I say Townsend is on his way I want the boys to say “oh yes he is” and then I want to the girls to say “oh no he isn’t”.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Eric – possibly, but he wasn’t clinical enough and when you look at his record when he was with Palace, his conversion rate wasn’t great there either. I’m not saying he’s not PL quality, but he’s not a player who will get the goals we need imo. I’d keep him coz I do think he’s a player who could come on and change a game – nick a winning goal. But he hasn’t got the quality to justify that no.9 shirt imo.
Sharpy17(Quote)
West Ham have spent over £70m so far and have bought 7 new players. Can we assume they have improved and pushed us at least one place less in the league? That’s without looking at the others who have improved who we finished only a few points ahead. We also can’t rely on Fulham or Wolves being relegation fodder like usual.
If this turns out to be yet another pathetic window, which I’m sure it will be and have said it all summer then I will no longer think Rafa is a man of honour. He absolutely should walk if this turns sour…again!
Stuart79(Quote)
Oh and there’s only 3 weeks left to get rid of Mitro, Sels, Mbemba and whoever else they want to sell, well at the same time getting a new centre half, a right back, a number 10 and the hardest of all a striker.
What do people think the chances of this club pulling that off?
Jabba must still be on his reinforced sun lounger.
Stuart79(Quote)
Eric – I know mate, and I know that’s largely the papers coz they’ve got nowt else to write. But the old actions speak louder than words would be, we don’t appear to be at any stage of signing someone – and there’s only about 3 weeks left.
Ideally we need bodies in next week for a half decent pre season – but I don’t see it happening, do you?!.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Sharpy: maybe Rondon. But a couple of Rafa specials of players we have never heard of. The PL is such a tough market now with average players like Hayden being touted at 10 million and up.
We have an OK team but desperately need a striker and a couple more additions. I am not that scared that West Ham have been on a buying spree because there are always hits and misses. Leicester thought they would press on with Musa and Slimani but they both failed.
We do need to see some progress though as I really don’t want another relegation fight and that is what we had with the squad we have got.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
We will have to go some to avoid a relegation scrap at the minute, Eric. Everyone around us have strengthened and we haven’t. We have an awful lot of work to do in not a long period of time.
Stuart79(Quote)
Seems like the links in the Chron have dried up now. Nothing at all happening. Unbelievable that a club of this size with this manager are behaving so poorly. It’s bordering on the insane.
georgio(Quote)
According to The Sun (I know) Southampton have BID 20 million for Ings. It sort of makes sense because he was a youth player there and Hughes will be desperate because I doubt he has 3 months to prove himself.
So, if the bar is set at 20 million for Ings and 10 million for Hayden (doubt it, what has he done) then we need to get moving. Just sign Rondon because he is better than we have and lets see some Rafa specials.
We have average, bit part and permacrock players going for fortunes.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Stu – WH have always spent big on players, or spend a lot of money bringing ‘names’ in like Zaballeta and Evra on a free. But I always felt they were just buying players – whereas this window I feel like they are building a team. They are bringing in quality and adding in the right areas. I really didn’t worry about them last season despite the money they spent and players they got – but I do this summer.
Wolves and Fulham and not so sure about. They are spending and bringing in what seem to be good players on the face of it. But I don’t see many players in their respective squads with any real PL experience – equally neither manager has any experience managing in the PL and I think that’s a really important thing, especially in their first season.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Eric – that’s about right
georgio(Quote)
What happened to this Jorgensen kid?. He changed his agent ready for a move and was apparently available at £15m. I know he doesn’t have the PL experience Rondon does, but he looks on par with him – he’s still a viable option I’d have thought.
Sharpy17(Quote)
If Ings does go for £20m, B’mth will stick and extra £10m on Josh King as will Watford with Deeney and every other club with a player of that standard – which is why Rondons buy out clause becomes so much more appealing at £16.5m.
Sharpy17(Quote)