I noticed that James nursey tweeted last night that hughton has got a bid in for a french/african striker, 28 years old, quick and tall at 6.2ft but the plank doesn't remember his name. Jacob mulenga is 28 and 6.2ft but is Zambian unless has french connections!? Ive always said that there's really good players at the moment coming from that part of the world and hopefully if true then we have got another one...
It seems as if it could be mulenga. He was quoted the other day saying he was close to joining a prem club.
Jacob mulenga is reportedly in England undergoing a medical at Norwich and will be in attendance for tomorrow's match according to a Zambian football website. Interesting?! The only problem I would have is hes buggering off to the AFCON for 2/3 weeks or whatever it is.
i don't know too much about him but i'd heard west ham were set to sign him about ten days ago, so it would be a good sign if we've pinched him from under their nose. he's certainly got the build and the pace to be a success in the premier league.
Mulenga looks interesting Not too bothered about the Acon if it means we get a good striker in the bag
i read somewhere that Utrecht would accept a bid of 1.5 mil due to financial reasons and hes one of there highest earners but is only on a reporteded 10k a week.
Just saw an article that worried me saying Utrecht were trying to offload "overpaid" Mulenga. However the article also said he's on about £9,000 a week. We could easily pay double that and no one would question it. Shows how much financial trouble Dutch football is in really.
Now that would bother me Max. If we signed him and he was an istant hit, then we would miss him when he went off to the ACON. If he got injured when he was out there, then it would bother me even more. I know these African players want to play for their countries, and who can blame them, but I really would think liong and hard about signing an African player halfway through a season. I believe that Pardew has stopped Ba from going to the ACON. I can understand why, as it's Newcastle that pay his wages, and he may well be needed there at this moment in time, but if we tried anything like that....Well, I just can't see it. Just my opinion on it, that's all
Ha thats fine bath, it shows exactly why europe is the place to get your bargain buys though. The dutch, Belgian and french leagues are all the same, top players on low wages. Mulenga has 7 goals in 16 apps with 2 assists this season and averages 1in 3 in his Utrecht career.
had cameroon qualified, bassong would have gone to the competition for a couple of months. would you rather we hadn't signed him as we'd lose him for a couple of months? i'm not overly fussed if he goes, as long as he's a good signing over the course of his city career. had we been in desperate need of a striker (which i don't think we are) then i think we'd look elsewhere. the major issue is that for some reason, the african cup of nations seems to take place every sodding year these days! for crying out loud folks - play it every four years or every three if you really can't cope that long!!! its a joke.
Bassong hadn't played in any of the ACON qualifiers so wasn't a garenteed place in the squad. It's every two years but they're shifting from even years to odd years so they don't get in the way of the World Cup. Why they had to do two consecutively and not wait 3 year once is beyond me though
Having a player away at the African Cup is the price we would pay for getting an international level player at at a cost in both transfer and wages we can afford. Mulenga looks good and seems to have a good attitude. He missed the last ACO though injury, and is desperate to play . He'd be back match-fit and available to us for the last ten games or so of this season. Until then we have Holt and Kane, with back-up from Morison and Jackson (if we keep them beyond the transfer window), and plenty of scoring potential from our Midfield and defence, That doesn't seem to me to be too bad a situation on balance, and has got us 25 points so far; providing Mulenga didn't get injured in Africa; though that could happen on the training pitch at Colney.
Papis cisse played at the AFCON last season, that didnt affect him or Newcastle s performances last season. Also there's a reason why its this year aswell but I cant remember why but it only happens every other year usually,
I don't think even Nursey is that much of a plank! More likely he'd be skinned alive by McNally and Hughton if he named names.
Bassong hadn't played for a while for Cameroon, plus, he was signed at the beginning of the season. In my post, I did say that I would think long and hard about signing someone who may go to the ACON, halfway through the season. There is a slight difference.
