Stephen Ireland

Says he would be happy to remain at Newcastle beyond the end of his current loan deal.

This is all good but we haven't seen much of him and will only get to see him for about 5 games until the end of the season and thats not a long time to evaluate whether he is worth keeping.

He says in this article "could be another loan". I think this deal could benefit all parties. If he does outstandingly well in his 5 games then fair enough, buy him, give Villa 5/6 million. If he does well but nothing spectacular, extend his loan for another season in the summer.

http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11661_6868727,00.html

 

i'd love him to join, hope he can get back to his man city form
also i wouldn't be suprised if we could get him for even less than that

 

I have a fear he could be another Hargreaves, great player but always injured.

Hope not though.

 

Well if he wants to move here permanently then he'll hopefully pull his finger out and play to his best in the opportunities he'll have.

I'm quite excited really. Always fun to see a brand new player get a run out. I had the same buzz when Gosling played a while back.

 

Four months down the line, still haven't seen him play, still wish he'd **** off back to Villa.

 

you shouldn't wish that fate on anyone

 

Lets hope he doesnt suffer the same fate when he does finally play.

 

Apparently he was fit for Villa but obviously couldn't play due to his loan contract, so that's an extra week of recuperation and training which should hopefully take the edge off even more. I think Gosling was rushed in too quickly.

 

Wasn't Gosling meant to be not far behind Ireland in terms of return date, so surely he'll be back soon.

 

He was City's best player for a season, was top class that year surrounded by "better" players and didn't get the praise he deserved IMO. If he could get back that form he would be a great buy at a bargain price. Was one of the top midfielders in the league that year but was only pushed out to accommodate bigger signings. Would be well worth it.

 

Seeing as he hasnt played yet I can only imagine that Pardew had the intention to sign him fromt he start

 

Let's not get our expectations up about him, he's only played two full games this season (500ish minutes total though), and no football for just over 5 months now. He's most likely going to take some time to get back up to speed.

 

A total waste of time, just getting paid for doing nowt.

 

actually i dont think hes even getting paid

 

IF HE'S ON FORM, he'll be a massive player for us. Technically very gifted and a top, top player on his DAY. Not world-class but he was outstanding back in the 08-09 season with City and if we can get even half of that he'll definitely be very useful to us. It remains to be seen if he can recapture that form though, especially how bad he's played this season.

 

He seems to have the right attitude at least, but still, 4 months and not even had his debut is ridiculous.

 

i dont think anyone realized it would be this long. And besides at least we're not paying him anything unlike Gosling

and he's only been here 2 and 1/2 months

 

Let's see how he does first before we cough up some money for him.

 

Meant to put 3 haha, but yeah, sounds like Pardew has his mind made up about Ireland though.

 

I keep forgetting Gosling even exists.
Might see an appearance before end of the season by all accounts though, he's a couple of weeks away from returning *apparently*


As for Ireland, I'd like to see another pay-as-you-play loan deal next season if we don't see enough of him now.
Good enough to justify holding out for another season to see if he performs well, but not brilliant enough to justify a permanent purchase after only a couple of games.