Gervinho TEXTED his way out of move to Newcastle Mar 11 2012 Alan Oliver GERVINHO goes in against Newcastle at the Emirates tomorrow night looking to remedy his weakness in front of goal. But People Sport can reveal that the Arsenal striker could have been playing FOR Newcastle but for another weakness - texting. The player actually texted his way out of a move to the north east. Toon boss Alan Pardew thought he had fought off competition from Arsenal, Paris Saint Germain and Atletico Madrid last summer when Lille accepted Newcastle's £10million bid for the Ivory Coast international. And things were looking good when they got Gervinho and his representatives around the table to complete the deal. But the Newcastle delegation were stunned when, in the middle of the negotiations, Gervinho whipped out his mobile phone and started texting. A Newcastle source revealed: "Somehow, we knew at that moment Gervinho would not be joining us. "We were offering him a good deal but he was more interested in texting. We never found out who he was texting, but that was it as far as we were concerned." Gervinho moved to Arsenal later in the summer for £10.8m, but he has not exactly been a hit in front of goal, with just four in 19 Premier League games. He looked to have recaptured his touch at the Africa Cup of Nations earlier this year - before missing a penalty in the shootout as the Ivory Coast lost the final to Zambia. Gervinho, 24, made his Arsenal debut in a 0-0 draw at St James' Park on the opening day of the season - and was sent off for slapping Joey Barton. The Toon source added: "It's ironical that the texting king did not see eye to eye with the Twitter twerp. http://www.people.co.uk/sport/footb...way-out-of-move-to-newcastle-102039-23784672/
Glad we didn't get him anyway. Doesn't fit in with our team mentality at all and really hasn't adapted to the league particularly well.
As always I would never be too hasty in judging a player, especially a winger. Particularly one who goes to Arsenal from France under Wenger's tutelage. (Pires anyone?) Typically foreign players need 12-18 months to adapt to the PL. He'll come good and I would have liked him for our right side. As for the story itself? Its the People, its Alan Oliver, and its the usual "club source". Basically "I'm making **** up again so I have an angle on the game"
