Modric Spuds
So we lose out to the Spuds in the bid to land Modric. Sources are saying we lost out due to the £25 million asking price not being met by some £5 million. It is believed that Spuds will eventually pay that in the long term having paid less than we would upfront.
Shame because apparently the player was rather keen on coming to Newcastle which is good. Hopefully other targets will be out there with hopefully Spurs now being weakened in the market due to a huge outlay already on one player. Now all we have to do is compete with the ‘Top 4′…
Who will be up next? Who knows but I have always said I hope that we go in for Bentley - a proven Premier League player who is a future England regular. I would much rather we paid £12-15 million on him.
Players are out there and available who are interested in Newcastle - we just have to sound them out.
Least we know we won’t be getting another Maric in Modric.
April 27th, 2008 at 8:24 pm
I would have liked to see him given a go in black and white but that is a hell of a lot of cash for one untested player. EPL defenders will give him a much tougher test so will be interesting to see how he does. Looks quite exciting from clips but so did Luque.
April 27th, 2008 at 8:28 pm
I’d rather we went for Bentley too - a similar level of ability but proven in this league. However would he really be only 12-15m and would he come to us?
I actually think we could struggle a little this summer. We don’t have that much to offer a top, top class player quite yet, other than exciting and fun football (and playing football that is enjoyable shouldn’t be underrated).
What is key is that we bring in a top quality player somehow (getting Owen to sign would be the next best thing) to show other top players that this will be the sort of player they’ll be lining up next to if they join the club. We need to do this early - preferably before the window officially opens, so that we’ve got time to go after the other signings before they’re snapped up.
Anyone got any guesses as to a big name player we could sign (and would be worth signing)?
Anyway, enjoy Florida?
April 28th, 2008 at 4:11 am
Yes so did Luque…
Yeah Florida is red hot! Missing the footy though its very hard to get access to it all. I had to listen to the hammers match on the radio then catch some highlights on the link you posted a few weeks back
April 29th, 2008 at 11:43 am
Lucky you, it’s been raining off and on here… No change there then!
Anyway, glad the link was of some use. The Virgin site is great too, glad Wes pointed it out - I always seem to miss MOTD.
So, since Modric isn’t coming, anyone got any new predictions for players we might sign? There’s more talk of Dunne, although I think the link might just be lazy journalism with KK’s Man City links…
The Guardian are however linking Smith with a £5m move to Rangers - I’d let him go for that amount if I’m honest, not sure he’d want to go there though…
April 29th, 2008 at 2:32 pm
I think Smith would flourish in the SPL. It could be a good move for him. I think Dunne is a valid link. The toon have been interested in him for a while and he would be priced fairly reasonable. Experienced and not had a bad season though I wouldn’t stop there. Id be looking for someone else as well who is more athletic.
April 29th, 2008 at 4:17 pm
If KK feels Carrol is ready to chip in 10 goals or another decent forward is bought then I’d happily say thanks for a hard working shift to Smith. What bothers me is Owen signing and/or staying fit next season. Can’t rely on Viduka to stay fit or play every game either so while we have some good players upfront, for understandable reasons it just feels fragile. Martins can be deadly but I still think he needs something up there with him. Really think we need some fresh faces in the centre mid area. I’d love to see someone who could really influence the forward play like Elano did early in the season for City.
On a slighty different note, do you guys think shipping Parker out was a bit premature with hindsight? He did have a poor season but most did and he looked fairly solid against us at the weekend.
April 29th, 2008 at 5:24 pm
I think we are looking at possibly 2 strikers still. Gomis is supposedly the next Drogba and we’ve been linked with him for a long time now and hes young. Apparently we are going to go in for £12 million. Defo in midfield we need some new talent a few signings here please. But in terms of Parker he has barely played for the Hammers due to injury again but he never fitted in up here. His style didnt suit with our fans. He was too slow at releasing the ball and spun around like a dancer for 10 mins before deciding where to pass. Good players know where their team players are instinctively and know where they are passing it before they receive it.
April 30th, 2008 at 11:22 am
” spun around like a dancer for 10 mins ” haha Fair enough, although I thought he did quite well when he first arrived.
April 30th, 2008 at 1:46 pm
hello folks. been away for a while. life has been busy busy busy. well losing our on modric was a bit disappointing but it’s still early doors. getting linked with anyone and everyone at the moment which is always great. Joaquin was linked today which made me giggle a bit. Anyway i’m agreed on going for proven premier league players - that is all we have to play for next season so we need players who are gonna get us up the table. bentley would be a definite but it sounds like he’s going to liverpool. others possibles that i would be keen on are ashley young, ashton, lennon, barry, bridge and wright-phillips. if we could actually get any of them is another matter. this may sound strange as well but there were murmerings that jenas might become available at spurs and i wouldnt actually be too against him coming back. he aint a league winner but has got a great engine up and down the field - something we havent really got at the mo. if he is available i also think dunne at man city is a no brainer. again he aint a league winner but he would definitely improve what we have. If we could get 3-4 proven premier league players then maybe we could add 1-2 overseas players for a bit of flair.
April 30th, 2008 at 4:20 pm
Parker wasn’t a bad player and he did a job for us. However I’m not sad he left as he was a bit limited and is below the standard of player we should be aiming for now.
Up front, I agree that we need another “big” forward to come in - in which case Smith can go as he offers nothing as a midfielder and doesn’t score up front. A spell in Scotland could do him the world of good and he’d get regular games (although he’s now come out and rejected the idea, saying he wants to stay). If Carroll can fill that role, fine (but doubtful, yet), otherwise we need someone like Ashton or this Bafetimbi “The New Drogba” Gomis.
In midfield I really think we need a creative/attacking midfielder and a young defensive midfielder to slowly replace Butt. Someone a bit like Barry would be great, although I think he’ll be off to Liverpool or Arsenal. A left winger would be great too, someone with real pace.
In defence Dunne could be good, although I’d prefer a top class centreback, possibly someone like Metzelder. I wouldn’t be upset to see two centrebacks come in as I don’t have huge faith in Cacapa and Rozenhal is gone. Edgar might be a bit too inexperienced too and Ramage is solid but limited…
May 1st, 2008 at 12:57 am
Wes on that note Boumsong did alright the first few games
Metzelder has been mentioned a few times but until it actually happens that KK says we signed him…
We need a good mixture adding to our squad. Exciting times but we said that beginning of last season… come on admit it
May 1st, 2008 at 12:43 pm
I completely admit to being happy Big sams appointment. I didn’t think it was exciting but I did think it was what we needed ie some solid and stable management. I even admit I wasn’t one of the people screaming for his head but I had no argument against the fact that his football was chronic. Had someone said KK is coming in place of Sam though I would have instantly thought “Sam who?”.
At least with KK you know we will be having a go no matter who it is.
I agree with Simo in that we may struggle to get any more world class players for next season but we need to keep in mind the reasons for that and have faith that whoever does come in will improve the squad for KK’s flavour of football.
That said I think we should sign Messi! Someone get him hooked on Brown Ale or something!
May 1st, 2008 at 1:25 pm
Haha Messi! If only it could happen. There will be similar style players out there just not as known. We just have to find them. Then again a player like Jimmy Bullard put in our team could do wonders. Hes a tidy player and I think thats where we have to be clever. There is enough options out there for us to get sorted so that we can qualify for Europe again then challenge for world class players. Next season is still a building and stabilising year.
May 1st, 2008 at 1:26 pm
…just to follow on that it sould still see is making improvements further up the league.
May 1st, 2008 at 8:51 pm
The latest name we’re linked to is the Swiss striker Eren Derdiyok… He scored against England in our last match against them I think - anyone know anything about the guy?!
Like you guys say, it’s all about signing a few hidden gems and dragging ourselves slowly back up the table. If we can get into the UEFA Cup then we can start really bringing in the sort of players we need.
As for Sam, I too was happy about his appointment as I thought he’d stablise things - didn’t last though…
May 2nd, 2008 at 5:10 am
Yeah my partner laughed everytime his name was said during that match Simo! Yeah there will be hidden gems out there and I totally have faith in KK to find them!
May 4th, 2008 at 12:57 pm
The latest names we’re linked to are Ivica Olic and Daren Bent… Hmmm… No idea who the former is but I’d take Bent more than happily. His time at Spurs has been rubbish, but he’s a good striker and could take over from Viduka possibly. He wouldn’t offer those little passes and backheals that Martins and Owen have fed off so well recently, but he could score a few goals..?
May 4th, 2008 at 3:20 pm
I would go against you on the Bent one Simo
Don’t rate him as a player. Alot of his goals at Charlton were penalties and I think alot of people looked at the goal charts then thinking he was good. I think when there he operated as a lone striker so just had to focus on himself. I don’t think that would suit in with our team and we have better players at Newcastle now. We are getting rid of Ameobi we need to make sure we replace him with quality and the more I think about it the more I like the idea of Aston and possibly take a punt on a young foreign player such as Gomis as well. After all we know we aint gonna get loads of games out of Viduka. A season is a long time and look at Man U their squad is looking a bit thin at present… I would like to think we can pull a deal for a very good creative midfielder tho.
May 4th, 2008 at 9:14 pm
I agree that we’d get a much better player in Ashton and if he really is the new Drogba, Gomis. I think you’re right, we should be aiming as high as possible and should, if we can, bring in a player better than Viduka (as the new striker will effectively be a replacement for him), not just younger. Hmmm, in terms of link up play, as you say it’s not Bent’s forte, he’s more of an out-and-out goal-scorer.
To be honest I just want the season over with so that we can get on with making these signings, should be exciting!
Good to see Stoke come up though - bye bye Ameobi! £4m for him would be great, although it won’t come near the years of wages we’ve paid him for so little return.
Speaking of Man Utd, who do you reckon will with the Champions League? I think the Premiership is all but tied up, although Man Utd are starting to look tired so might get beaten by Chelsea in the final…
May 5th, 2008 at 10:05 am
Today’s papers link us with Steven Davis and Andy Johnson… I’m not for one second giving these rumours any credibility, but would anyone fancy these two? I honestly can’t say I’ve watched either play very much. Johnson has never come across as top drawer to me, hardworking but wouldn’t offer the quality of link-up play Viduka does…
May 6th, 2008 at 9:48 am
I’m not that much of a Johnson fan myself either. I think we have what he can offer and more in Martins. We really missed Viduka yesterday in the second half. It’s not just hoofing it up to him but looking at the way he is able to control the ball (from the air and to feet) and release to players in space is really first class. If we are to carry on playing this system against the bigger sides we desperatly need that sort of player available at all times or we just get squeezed and pinned back. We did well in the first and perhaps should have been 1-2 up but Chelsea really did a job on us in the second half. As KK points out, the gap is huge when you look at it. I have to concede; Smith was almost no use whatsoever was he?