Gervinho - yes and no's

Let's try and work this out once and for all to assess the chances of him coming here.

Reasons for him coming here:

Tiote - He has a friend here in Tiote who I've heard has tried to convince Gervinho to come.

We've almost signed Cabaye - so he'd be coming to a place with one of his existing team-mates. Cabaye and Tiote would be two very welcoming friends to have when coming to a different country for the first time.

Wages - I can see us giving him £50,000/£60,000 per week. For an unproven foreign talent who isn't necessarily a sought-after megastar, this is quite a serious wage packet to consider. I doubt he'd get that much more than this even at clubs like Spurs or Arsenal. I don't even think that players like Samir Nasri get much more than that currently.

Ambition - Possible European football next season. Not exactly Champions League, but European football nonetheless. I'm sure this has been drilled into him by Pardew, whether it becomes truth or not.

A platform - Honestly, he might see us as a platform to higher things. He's more likely to get noticed by top European teams like Man Utd and Chelsea if he's playing in the same league and he's proven here. He probably knows that signing a 4/5 year contract doesn't really mean that he'll be here for 4/5 years.

First-team - He knows for a fact that he can get first team football here. In other top 4/5 teams, there's no guarantee, and there's a good chance that he'd have to fight to get beyond the subs bench.

Ben Arfa - I've heard we're well known in France now due to now we handled Ben Arfa and his leg break. We're respected for it. Could this work in our favour?

Other **** - Big attendances, loyal following, a good chance to be praised as a toon legend. He probably hasn't even taken any notice of **** like this, but whatever.

Reasons for him to not join us:

Champions League football - He obviously wants it, but it's nothing more than a preference at this stage.

Wages - I doubt he'd get much more than what we're offering, but he COULD get more - even if it's an extra 5k or 10k per week.

Ego - If he's got a bit of an ego on him, he might see himself as a top 4 player only, and too god-like to be seen playing for a mid-table side.

Ambition - Really depends on his levels of ambition. Some players simply want to help their team do well and push them higher (i.e. Tiote). Some players aren't happy unless they're having medals placed around their neck on a regular basis.


Anyone got anything else to add?

Either way, we do have a lot of things in our favour, but we'll never have any idea of what Gervinho is really thinking, or how much of an influence certain things have. For example, if Tiote has been talking to him, it might be the key factor in swaying him, or he might not give a **** about what he thinks. No one knows.

 

Good article chappaz! No I think you have pretty much covered all the bases here. There is of course the personal negotiation factor to take into account, i.e. how good a job Pardew, Ashley et al do of convincing him that the club is going places and whether he takes a liking to them on a personal level. This of course could go either way so is probably a neutral factor.

I think it is very much in the balance. The biggest concern for me is that there are probably possibilities were a number of the factors on the Positives side of our list can be met by clubs who can also offer him champions league and offer a better chance of fulfilling his ambitions (assuming he has them). For me it is going to be his views on those two that will be the most important and will probably hold the key to his decision.

 

Listen mate if we get him I'll suck your cock reet

 

Good article.

Honestly, after all the noises he's been making (Champions League football etc.) I would be VERY surprised if we get him. Having said that, stranger things have happened.

One other thing you could add is potential. If Ashley can see a return on his investment, he'd be willing to bend his own rules (wage cap/spending limit) surely? If the rumors of him going for as little as 10m then surely in a year or two, if he is as good as we all hope, he'l be worth at least double that? This'd make sense for Ashley!

 

totally agree with you chappaz I would have to say the wages we can offer over arsenal and spurs put us on the high ground and combining that with cabeye (hopefully, not totally sure if we've signed him officially) and Tiote should give him a massive incentive

 

Wake up from you dream

 

cheer up Tiote I'm starting to wonder if you're just a jealous sunderland fan optimism never killed anyone mate ;P

 

Trust me there is one thing the bastard saves for last. And you beg for mercy.

 

You mention wages but havent taken into account the ridiculous tax in the country. Am i right in thinking that someone earning as much £ as this would be paying 52p in every pound in tax- so 50k is actually 24k. My maths might be wrong like, i had a late one!

 

True but i think all the clubs who have shown real interest are in England so that should be the same for all the other clubs competing for him

 

All highly paid players will have clever financial advisors and won't pay anywhere near that much tax.

As for him saying he wants CL football it doesn't necessarily mean he'll get it, look at when the Zog wanted to go to a bigger club. In our favour is that he'd be a star man and focal point of the team, not sure he would be at a CL club.

 

Great article Chappaz, I just hope you're right!

 

the tax rate isn't any lower in France

 

Good article.

Reppd.

 

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Why is it we're hardly linked with him?

Arsenal and Spurs seem to be the front runners for him

 

We were obvs never looking at him we were after Cabeye.

 

"Despite Lille manager remaining tight lipped. Word is Gervinho had his medical for #nufc in Lille last night and verbally agreed to join."

Rumours flying round on twitter

 

I'll insert by own balls in my tunnel if this comes off

 

I thought Lille were playing last night? And why would he have the medical in France and not UK? Seems a bit suspect to me although I would love it to be true