Klose has already signed elsewhere. If slackjaw gets wickam surely defoe or pav must be leaving. Like bizarreK said where is the real cest. Cest & optimism do not go together
Lots of hearsay there though - a friend of a friend's next door neighbour etc. The fact he knows Bruce and knows Bruce wants and values him will be a huge factor if we both offer the same deal. We shall see. As for these quality signings? Cabaye? Had never heard of him until you signed him (be honest had you heard of him)and £5m for a totally unheard of player, who will need to adapt to physical demands of the English game to make an impact is not quality its a gamble. N'Zogbia would be a quality signing though for anyone outside the top 4.
I had heard of him, but only only from playing FIFA (got a Lille shirt from Sports Direct 'cause it was cheap - don't tell anyone on the Toon board though!) and started playing with them as my 2nd team, then when Lille started well, I took a lot more notice. Although you're right, he WILL need to adapt, its common knowledge that of all the European leagues, the French and Dutch are two that appear harbour talents that can easily adapt to English football - We saw it this year from what little we saw of Ben Arfa and Tiote. PLUS although statistics show he was the best midfielder in the whole of Ligue one for successful touches on the ball and had the highest passing accuracy percentage (82%) and highest tackle and interception rate (both 3.0 per game) in the Lille squad, he will be playing next to Tiote, who ALSO has the highest passing accuracy, tackling and interception rate of any Newcastle player. So in theory he'll be able to continue doing what he's been doing for Lille with a similar style player alongside him to shoulder part of his work. Buying any player from overseas is a gamble, but when you consider he was recomended by Graham Carr who is also responsible for the unknown Tiote (by me at least) and Ben Arfa then I certainly trust his judgement and have faith that Cabaye will come good. PLUS if you read any articles on the 'net about him coming to us from people who regularly watch French footy (I'm not one of them) they all suggest he'll be a great addition. So yes he's a risk, but a calculated one at £4.3m
I'm not saying he is a bad buy, just an unknown quantity and as many more have failed from france and holland than have succeeded. Arfa himself is still unknown really as he only played a few games before a really bad injury and will he come back the same player? Tiote is a very good player but was also the most booked player in the EPL last season and missed nearly as many as he played. Cabaye will be expected to perform for that fee and if Nolan & Barton do leave, thats suddenly a very inexperienced EPL midfield form probably one of the most experienced? Interesting times ahead for us both.
Some of that List excites me in terms of our starting 11 such as Zog, Larsson, Whickham, O'Shea but others who don't excite me as such would still bolster a very weak squad. I would like to a see a proper dominant type of centre half, because I simply do not rate turner at all, but overall, for our squad those names were pretty good. Hope they come off, but I've already got a feeling this is gonna be one really long summer!
OK Parker. My Birthday today also. We really need at least FOUR extra strikers fighting for the shirt. One of those I expect to be the Marquee signing promised some time ago.
Simple choice... Liverpool, top 6 maybe top 4 but may not play every game Newcastle, knows club anb some of team Sunderland, knows Bramble and Catts and likes Bruce I dont think he will pick Liverpool because I think he likes the big fish option. Us or Newcastle, no idea
Very true. At 4.5 its a risk I'm willing to take, we've got cash and should spend it (just as long as we don't go for any ridiculous mercenary trophy signings). As you say, exciting times for North East football!
