There are some big decisions for Newcastle to make after confirmation that our £60m Marc Guehi bid has been rejected by Crystal Palace; who are thought to be demanding at least £65m.
Given the stage in the window and the quality of the player, paying the extra few million seems like the logical option. We don’t know the exact details, but I (and all of us) hope that’s the resolution.
If that doesn’t happen, one alternative is to pivot to a young (but riskier) overseas option – Ousmane Diomande (Sporting Lisbon), Antonio Silva (Benfica), Malick Thiaw (AC Milan), Mohamed Simakan (RB Leipzig), Perr Schuurs (Torino), Logan Costa (Toulouse) – to name a few.
The other is to stay within the league, where Chelsea’s Trevoh Chalobah is almost certainly seen as the best-value option in the market by most smart recruiters and clubs.
At £25m, he’s such a safe bet for a player who’s reliable, has an excellent skillset, and still has room for growth. Whoever gets him is getting a really good player, and anyone who’s watched him extensively knows that. He’s a Champions League level defender, and should probably be starting for Chelsea.
It wouldn’t surprise me if Newcastle made a move for Chalobah and he’s beginning to be linked, with Sky Sports reporting on Thursday afternoon that he’s on our list of potential options should we look elsewhere.
Getting Guéhi is without a doubt the ideal situation, but if we can’t do that, then Chalobah is a great alternative. I know some fans won’t like it, but the reality is that it’s a simply wonderful option for the club.
For less than half of the price of Guehi, it could open up spending elsewhere, freeing up funds to sign a quality right-winger to replace to upgrade another key area of our starting 11.
I disagree Guehi is the ideal situation – not when Chalobah & Madueke could both be bought for the latest Guehi offer to be rejected.
Buying a CB & RWF for £55m is the ideal situation.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Chalobah is terrible! He’s as bad as Tosin! We need to get Guehi signed!
Rowen(Quote)
I don’t understand why Newcastle are dragging out this deal Crystal Palace are not going to sell Guehi cheap so coff up or look elsewhere before the transfer window comes to an end we might end up with no signings full stop.
Eddy Quinn(Quote)
He’s that bad that Chelsea fans are raging that he is being forced out of their club.
Every time I’ve seen him he’s looked good he’s quick, good in the tackle and he’s better than Guehi with high balls into the box and his passing is say better than Guehis
Absolutely glorious(Quote)
Chala is nowhere near a top player which is why Chelsea are selling him .. he is a squad player and not an upgrade on what we have ., the plan is to buy players who are top level like botman ..poor analysis
Mike(Quote)
Not downplaying him at all but If Chalobah is that much better than Guehi, I’m curious why he’s priced around 40%.
I get guehi’s importance to cpfc draws a premium in the same way nufc overpriced guimaraes to extract max money if he moved on but that’s some mark up and doesn’t explain nufc’s fascination.
In respect of madueke .. nope
Jonesy(Quote)
This has been and remains to be an embarrassing few months for the NUFC board & Fans alike
The PIF board will not take to this public open book on their business
June panicked selling
Eddie’s statement
Botched public transfers
Aka
Miggy
Guehi
Gordon (albeit Liverpool press)
However no denying NUFC fingers in the pie)
All in all pretty poor management
Whatever the name of the the game is
Professional togetherness and private
At the moment it’s a public toilet
Keeping the powder dry and in-house silent assassin strategy is the only way to go forward
We trust lessons have been learnt !!
The Board have limited time to recover face let’s hope this materialises
Trevor Thailand
trevor(Quote)
I mean you could argue if Guehi is that good – why are we the only team bidding on him 🤷🏼♂️.
But like the Chalobah isn’t a top player argument – it would be a stupid one.
Chalobah has been on the books for Chelsea his whole footballing career, working his way through the ranks. The reason they are SO desperate to sell him is he is pure profit & helps balance their books – same reason a player they had as club captain last season is desperately being moved out (Gallagher).
Incidentally, how many players did we say weren’t good enough at our club before Howe got his hands on them?!.
Have we not seen improvement in Lascelles, Krafth, Murphy – even Schar plays with a greater level of consistency under Howe.
Chalobah & Maueke would go from £20/30m players to double that under Howe imo.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Well put Sharpy17, someone who understands what’s going on
Absolutely glorious(Quote)
Embarrassing agreed, we look weak. Not sure about him, some Palace supporters on their podcast, think he’s not that good. But will happily take our money 🤔
Kiddafromthetoon(Quote)
Some fans always say that though, if he stayed guaranteed they’ll be saying what a great player he is
Absolutely glorious(Quote)