3 Signings Please
Keegan has stated he wants to make 3 signings and has been linked with the following players :
Sol Campbell, Van Buyten, Defoe, Nicky Shorey, Berbatov, Micah Richards, Shaun Wright Phillips, Deco, Michael Carrick, David Bentley, Barry Robson.
There are certainly a few players there that excite. One or 2 look more feasible than others though. Who do you think Keegan should or will sign and who would you prefer?
Certainly more exciting now but some of these signings I would imagine will be January and some in the summer if they do happen.
January 21st, 2008 at 4:20 pm
I’d like to see a defensive midfielder brought in - Smith is a forward (a decent one when given a run of games, but will never be a midfielder) and Butt is getting old. I’d also like to see a central defender brought in IF Keegan doesn’t see Cacapa and/or Rozenhal settling and becoming a top class Premiership defender. Otherwise one of them will have to go. Either way Taylor has to be accomodated in the back line so that he can progress. Also a decent strong forward is needed - Viduka hasn’t produced week in week out and Ameobi needs selling, if only to give him chance to become the reasonable (but not top class) striker he could become. A creative midfielder who can and does score goals is needed too, although could Keegan get the best out of Emre?
January 21st, 2008 at 5:55 pm
Sissoko? A player available and in that mould? I actually think hes had it rough at Liverpool of late. Yes once and for all if KK can’t get the best out of Emre then he should be sold and no toon fan be against it. Its time Emre started producing. If he can’t under KK he will never do it at Newcastle. Ameobi should be sold if it is to raise funds for another striker to replace him. I think at 26 years old he should have done better by now and we have Caroll coming through who I would like to see given a chance now instead of having Ameobi in front of him.
January 21st, 2008 at 6:43 pm
Totally agree - Carroll looks promising. Ameobi is pretty good at dribbling and can run at people from time to time but doesn’t appear to have either blistering pace, huge strength or great shooting ability, so I think he should be sold too… A million or two could easily be spent on two or three promising youngsters from the lower leagues. Even if only one of them makes the grade, we’ve effectively got a player good enough for the first team by selling one that isn’t, with no net outlay of funds. Seems obvious to me…
Also agree re Emre, it is time for him to produce, although he would argue I’m sure that he’s never had a long run in the team (although I can only assume the managers have all had their reasons, so we’ll see I guess…).
I must admit I’ve not seen much of Sissoko so couldn’t comment… Either way if he’s a brave player that has a good engine, strong tackler and can put a good pass in, he might be the man for us. Still, glad to see Kev has got old Arthur back, who apparently always helped him with his purchases and has kept his ear to the ground a bit…
January 21st, 2008 at 6:49 pm
As for the players above, my votes would have to be…
Sol Campbell - Great, as long as he’s cheap
Van Buyten - Never seen him but I hear great things, also seems to be available
Defoe - If we can get Owen and Martins enjoying their football we don’t need him. If not, he could be good, although I always feel like he has a bad attitude, not sure why…
Nicky Shorey - Is there no chance Enrique will come good?
Berbatov - In our dreams! He’d be a brilliant signing, although would he stick around?
Micah Richards - Another great signing although do we want two very young centrebacks?
Shaun Wright Phillips - Could be a great signing, although finding room for him, Milner, N’Zogbia and Duff could be tricky…
Deco - Getting on a bit now but can be brilliant… Would he settle?
Michael Carrick - I’d have him here in a flash, although needs a bit more bite in his game. Can’t see Man Utd selling for anything short of a fortune
David Bentley - Would cost a fortune. Again though, he’d be a brilliant signing
Barry Robson - I can’t say I’ve heard of him, sorry! Who is he?
January 21st, 2008 at 8:15 pm
Id love to see a midfield of Zog, Bentley, Carrick, Wright-Phillips. Ouch… Would cost a small fortune on 3 players alone though. I like the idea of Carrick putting the balls early through to the front line. Owen would thrive on it.
January 21st, 2008 at 8:51 pm
So would you drop Milner? I guess if we were looking for an absolutely top class midfield he might have to make way… Then again he’s young and in a couple of years could become top drawer - we’ll see. I have to say that when he’s on top form I love watching him play - he’s a very direct player, you know all he wants to do is head straight for the bye-line/goal and hit the shot/cross.
Who would you play in the centre with Carrick by the way, Bentley? I agree about Carrick, he can really hit a pass from deep… I’d still like him to work on his defensive abilities though
January 22nd, 2008 at 7:41 am
gotta agree with you boys on carrick. its highly unlikely he is available this month but if he fancies a jaunt home in the summer then bring it on. the boy is class. he never wastes a pass and he can unlock defences. he is actually also a very good tackler - he just stays on his feet so you dont notice him so much as say a scott parker (a good thing i think). spurs have missed him big style since he left. also have to agree on bentley. either now or in the summer these 2 have to be a priority to bring the creativity to the centre of the pitch. dont particularly like bentley but he is a cracking player and getting better all the time. those 2 would set us back a good 20 mil but it would be worth it as it would sort the midfield. for the rest of them i would take pretty much any of them but i think most have probably just been fabricated in the heads of lazy journalists. either way at least we can be excited about something again.
January 22nd, 2008 at 9:41 am
Don’t get me wrong I like Milner and he is still young I just don’t feel its natural for him. Its as though hes a great athlete and they’ve engineered it into him. The way he does things is a bit of a process. He often gets the ball caught up in his feet hes not really a player who runs with the ball. Sometimes he wants to beat a play too many times instead of do the job get the ball in. His crossing aint of the best quality niether. All things he can work on but hes a 100%’r and should be at NUFC for a long time to come. I just think there are actually better players out there. Carrick and Bentley would be an awesome midfield. If we went for both of those it would say alot about our ambition. Yes Carrick stays on his feet note to Alan Smith.
January 22nd, 2008 at 10:38 am
True, I think Milner’s best asset is the level of effort he puts in - I also agree that he could do with working on his crossing… Either way we need someone doing something special in the middle, as I say Butt’s getting on (although will do the job until summer) and Smith isn’t a midfielder. I actually quite like him up front despite his lack of goals, although he couldn’t really compete with a big centre forward that can knock them in for fun, which is what we need…
January 22nd, 2008 at 4:38 pm
Portsmouth are said to be in for Stroller… Sell him if they put in a half-decent offer, we’ve got four strikers (five including Carroll) and he’s never going to make it as a first-team player…
January 22nd, 2008 at 5:44 pm
Sell him get Crouch? I know hes not the general geordies style of player but if we looking for a taller option hes better than Ameobi.
January 23rd, 2008 at 8:30 am
hey guys, nice site, good work whoever set it up…
just on the signings front, i think alot of us are getting ahead of ourselves with some of the targets we ‘think’ we are going to sign. I know we have a great manager who can attract some of the bigger names in the world, but we are not in a very attractive position at this time to warrent some of the names being put forward. I feel alot of the time its the press who just throw the names of players that they feel arent happy at their current clubs, which is kind of annoying because we always take the bait!
i feel that in this window we need 3 more players, but i just cant see us getting anyone in. We need the rest of the season to consolidate our position, push for top 8, once we have our boys back from africa and suspension, our squad will look a little more healthy, and top 8 isnt out of the question.
Of the names mentioned in the article, our most realistic options there are: Van Buyten, Campbell, Shorey, and this Robson fellow (also no clue who he is) but those are all defenders, and doesnt solve our playmaker problem.
Bentley, Wright-Phillips, Carrick, Deco are all great players, but either cost too much, or wont leave to come here. I’d love to see SWP and Carrick in black and white, and if KK could mastermind it, that would be an amazing coup. I think he’ll try to fill the gaps this window in the next two weeks, and come the summer overhaul the entire squad.
January 23rd, 2008 at 9:38 am
Hi Snick and welcome to the discussion! Always nice to see a new face here! Yes some of the names at present are possibly unrealistic but if anyone can KK can. On Bentley I think out of the bigger names is our main target and most getable. Hes playing for Rovers who sorry to Rovers fans but is a smaller club. Yes I credit then with winning the EPL a while back but they don’t have the crowds or the finance. At the end of the day money talks and if Ashley/Mort/KK decide on a player they’d probably be able to get him. Blackburn for all their huff and puff of late arent really in that much of a better position? If we kick on we’d catch up soon enough. At the end of the day money talks with players and if we stumped up Bentley would come. I actually think he’d do very well in a black and white. Carrick would not be available til summer as Man U dont do business in January though Wes Brown could be possible at a push. Your right on Buyten and Shorey though they are the easiest of the signings to make. Deco is getting on now I think we’d be better if we focused on young talent then the team can settle for years to come. We already have a good nucleus of young players in the first team in Milner, Zog, Enrique and Tayls. Your right about the press feeding us crap though but its sure more entertaining than that of Allardyce. I just wish they’d scrap the transfer window - its spoils it for all.
January 23rd, 2008 at 12:58 pm
Agreed, the window is a ridiculous idea - what reason did they originally give for it?
Anyway, there’s a lot of talk of Ashton coming in, which I’d be happy with. He reminds me a bit of Viduka - a big strong centre forward with a nice eye for goal and better footwork than you’d expect. The difference is he’s younger, hungrier and aside from that broken leg (could happen to any player) he’s not known for being a sicknote. I’d bring him in this window and get ris of Ameobi. Then get rid of either Smith or Viduka in the summer as we only really need two big forwards at the most (complimenting Martins and Owen as the pacey strikers).
I’m increasingly keen on Van Buyten, who I hear is a classy player, although we appear to be collecting centre halfs, so who’d we get rid of in the summer? We won’t need all of Van Buyten/Campbell/Brown, Taylor, Cacapa, Rozenhal, Faye, Edgar etc.
As people have said, we need a creative midfielder, no idea who, but in summer we might also need a defensive midfielder…
I agree with Toonbobbyrobson though, money talks. It won’t get us the world class players, but if we can get close to Europe this season and look like a team on the up who are playing enjoyable, exciting, attacking football, players will be attracted.
One note of caution though, didn’t Mort and Ashley suggest that the first year or so the funds would be relatively limited? They’ve not come out and say that a huge spending spree will be funded, so with everyone assuming that the chequebook is well and truely open we could be in for a bit of disappointment…
January 23rd, 2008 at 1:58 pm
I wouldnt be too down beat if there wasnt any signings tbh. January usually ends up a disaster for a player switching. They dont get preseason to bed in. Thats why players from abroad would be a no no unless they played in premier league before. You could be right but I somehow don’t think KK would have signed up to the job had he not been promised funs and Ashley has said hes in this for the enjoyment of it.
January 23rd, 2008 at 5:22 pm
Ok, my take on this is……
We need a leader primarily. Butt could do it but his temperament is suspect. We need creativity in the midfield, and we need cover for left back. Up front is a tricky one as I’ve been suspicious about Owen for a while and was never overly confident about Viduka
Other than that I dont see that our squad is as bad as people are making out.
The defence has looked suspect because BSA kept chopping and changing the tactics, formation and pairings. Give a pairing a chance to bond properly and you may find we dont need a new centreback yet. Up front is trickier, on paper we have some talent, but something just doesnt sit right with me
January 24th, 2008 at 9:04 am
Your right the forward line dont get enough service or have had much chance much like at the back to build up a consistant partnership due to injuries etc.
January 26th, 2008 at 5:48 pm
another 3 goals leaked today, I think the defence is a priority, as I keep saying about Liverpool, they cant compete with Manu, Chelsea, Arsenal if they continue to think Carragher is world class, if he was he would be in the england side, Taylor could grow into a world class defender but he is far from it.
Also, a point for discussion, is Given to comfortable
I think Shay Given needs to be looked at, when was the last time this guy was under pressure for his position? he knows week in week out he,ll play, Harper who has been around forever doesnt put any fear into Given at all, perhaps a new understudy would get more out of Given.
Btw i dont know of any other goal keeper who lacks ambition more than Harper, who woulds stick around that long!!!
January 27th, 2008 at 9:50 am
Yes agree with you to an extent Neil. Allardyce put Given under pressure by playing Harper more often. I agree about Harper though. I think now is the time to move Harper on if I am honest. He needs for himself as well to be playing regularly at another club to finish his career. It has on many sides of the coin shown lack of ambition from Harper. It would be good to freshen up with a good understudy. Perhaps Krul when he comes back from his Scottish jaunt will be up to the challenge as he showed last season when playing against Palermo.