Another one Gone

Romain Amalfitano is the latest Newcastle United departure as he heads for Dijon
French midfielder did not make one domestic start for Newcastle and represents a failed gamble for the club

Newcastle United flop Romain Amalfitano has joined Dijon on a three-year contract as the Magpies continue the process of clearing the decks.

Amalfitano had been at Dijon since September and has left the Magpies on a free transfer, signing a three-year deal with the Ligue 1 club.

It represents a failed gamble by Newcastle, who took a chance on Amalfitano two years ago – only for the player to struggle with the demands of the Premier League. He did not play a single domestic game for United and only started once against Maritimo.

Dijon president Olivier Delcour confirmed the capture today, claiming that it took Amalfitano six months to regain his fitness.

Delcour said: “After the first six months he had regain his physical fullness but Romain then proved he could be valuable in organizing the game and set pieces. He is a smart player and will blend in nicely with the squad.”

United have signed Ayoze Perez and Jack Colback but James Tavernier and Amalfitano have left the club. Shola Ameobi is among the other depatures, which have left the Magpies in desperate need of reinforcements.

Not that bothered by this one, but thought I should post it anyway

 

Yeah, not going to get annoyed about us clearing out some flops. If we lose Obertan this summer it will clear some room in the squad and on the payroll. But obviously the caveat is that we go on to bring in players. Perez is a good signal of intent, Colback will be useful, but if those are the only people we bring in over the summer, the negative feeling among fans will be such that neither of them will do well here. If they are the first two of five or six, with some true quality in much needed areas, that will ease the pressure on them and they should be fine.

The comment from the Dijon president about Ammy's fitness bodes ill for our reserves though.

 

Maybe we do have some serious conditioning issues in our squad; it would certainly go a long way to explaining all the injuries.

 

I'm glad we're clearing out the dead wood to be honest, Tav, Gosling and this lad just not at Premier League Level. Hopefully Marveaux, Obertan, Ferguson and Sammy all join them in leaving the club.

 

I'd rather see Marveaux, Ferguson and Sammy given another year, agree with the rest though. We're desperate to get some in..........

 

Ferguson will be 23 this season and couldn't get a game in an awful Birmingham City side last year. He's neither young, promising or talented anymore IMO. Marveaux won't be used by Pardew so may as well sell, although if Pardew was happy to integrate him in to the team then I'd tend to agree with you that he should stay.

As for Sammy, I've had enough of the Ameobi clan at SJP. I just don't think he's good enough but to be fair he's still young enough to be afforded one more season to challenge for a place in the 17 but my gut feeling is that we should bin off all three of the above.

 

Happy to see the back of that lot. I thought Tav was worth a look after progressing last year but such is life. The likes of Sammy, Gosling, Ferguson, Obertan, HBA, Marveaux - happy to see the back of all of them. The problem is if we offload them our already long list of needs will increase again.

 

For once no complaints about the club here - either fir getting rid or for taking the gamble in the first place. I just hope that its a reflection that the players aren't good enough rather than our coaching/development.

 

Good. Never looked likely to succeed, so hopefully this frees up space in the squad for someone who will actually add something to the squad.