Gyan to stay as interest fizzles out by Stuart Rayner, The Journal Sep 6 2011 The Turkish transfer window closed last night with reported interest in the Ghana striker (pictured left) from Galatasaray, Fenerbahçe and Besiktas failing to materialise. Turkey was the last European country permitted to do business before the transfer window reopens on January 1. That fact made yesterday a nervous one for Sunderland after they thought they had completed their squad for the new campaign. There have been suggestions â most notably last week from Marseille â that Sunderland had been looking to offload their £13m signing, which have met with denials from the Stadium of Light. Having worked so hard to increase his quota of centre-forwards on Wednesdayâs English deadline, there was certainly little chance of Black Cats boss Steve Bruce willingly diluting his pool a few days later. But Bruce demonstrated with Darren Bent and Jordan Henderson he is not prepared to keep unhappy players against their will so long as their suitors pay a fair price. And the fear was that one of the bigger clubs in a league known for high, tax-free wages would produce a package Gyan wanted to take up. Wages are thought to be behind Gyanâs unhappiness, the stiker feeling his £25,000 weekly pay packet does not reflect his status as the clubâs record signing. That deal was done in August 2010, when Sunderland signed him from Rennes after a proposed move to Fenerbahçe fell through. Gyan, anxious to talk down rumours of his imminent departure, was less definitive when talking about the proposed interest before Ghanaâs friendly with Brazil at Craven Cottage last night, which he missed with a muscle strain. âI heard the news like everyone, before I came to England (from Rennes last August), there was a transfer bid from a Turkish club and I chose to come here,â he said. âI am flattered by their interest but, like I said, it is up to Sunderland. âI am at Sunderland, if they accept a bid from any club, I will have to speak to that club. I am not thinking about any transfer.â Gyanâs agent Fabien Piveteau had been negotiating with Galatasaray over a move for another of his clients, Inter Milan midfielder Sulley Muntari. That deal collapsed. Gyan, who scored 11 goals (ten in the Premier League) during an encouraging debut campaign, has been disappointingly lethargic in recent weeks, fuelling speculation about his commitment. Not helped by the international duties, which prevented him having a full pre-season, he is yet to score this term. Wednesdayâs season-long loan signing of Nicklas Bendtner from Arsenal was an attempt by Bruce to threaten Gyanâs place in the side in the hope of jolting him into action, providing an alternative if his worrying early-season form continues. The Dane takes the number of strikers at the Stadium of Light to five including Connor Wickham, Ji Dong-Won and Stéphane Sessègnon. Sessègnon and Gyan have been Bruceâs regular front pairing in the opening weeks of the season, but Bruceâs inability to sign the left-winger he so badly needed to balance the squad may mean the Benin international is pushed back out to the position he first occupied after joining from Paris-Saint Germain in January. The focus at Sunderland will now be on finding temporary homes for Matt Kilgallon and Nyron Nosworthy. Football League clubs are able to make what are very loosely termed âemergency loansâ as of next week, and despite naming both in their official squad for this season, the Black Cats would like both to move to the Championship, easing their wage bill. Meanwhile, Anton Ferdinand has revealed he was surprised by his deadline-day departure for QPR. The centre-back said Sunderland had offered him an extension to his contract, which was due to expire next summer, only a week earlier. £25 Grand, bargain in todays marketplace, recon Bentdner wouldnt take £25 Gs, gyan must be well pissed off.
No wonder he's pissed off, I bet we're still covering 25k of McCartneys wages this season and he's not even at the club. French based players seem to be on a pittance compared to England. I wonder why a Premier League team would ship in a load of Frenchies??? Hmmmmm.
You have to hand it to modern day schools of Journalism. Their maxim of don't let the truth (or any grain of it) get in the way of writing copy has been hammered into their students, the piece/extract above is a prime example of that. Unquoted sources for "reports", suppositions to Gyans thoughts..., rumours.... When it comes to facts they can't even get them right - SAFC.com list Sess as a midfielder. FFS it's the NEWCASTLE Journal, need anyone say more...
Agree with all the remarks about lazy, inventive journalism. What got my goat was this: 'Wednesdayâs season-long loan signing of Nicklas Bendtner from Arsenal was an attempt by Bruce to threaten Gyanâs place in the side in the hope of jolting him into action, providing an alternative if his worrying early-season form continues.' I'm firmly in the BOB but even I can see that Bruce's aim in buying Bendtner was to help take the weight off Gyan in the long term and get him scoring goals - all to do with what's happening on the field, not what's happening in Gyan's head. Get him scoring goals, hearing the fans chanting his name, maybe a couple of thousand a week more in his pay packet and we've got a top-class forward line (Gyan, Sess and Bendtner) doing the job.
Wouldnt go that far mind, not the dog. TBF a few newspapers have quoted the 25k a week but if true I would have thought a pay rise would be a far more acceptable solution than selling him. Its OK saying Bruce wont keep an unhappy player but surely we should ask the reason for the unhappiness.
The reporting on SAFC in the Journal is poor and very biased these days. They are deliberately writing this stuff to unsettle the player, the fans and the club because they know Newcastle is in such a state they are trying to level the playing field! Well that may be a conspiracy theory too far (and credit the journos there with more intelligence than I suspect they have) but at best this is lazy journalism, without credible sources or facts to back up their assertions. However the drip feed of non-stories does seem to be working, guessing by the amount of speculation on here about Gyan's commitment to us. If he reads some of the comments on here and other 'fans' message boards then he will get the feeling that we want him to go! I no longer expect players to be loyal for ever, but unless it comes from Niall Quinn, Steve Bruce, Ellis Short or named sources at the club, and is on the club website, I don't believe anything I read about our players and will always give them my 100% support.
