There were reports in the Daily Mirror on Monday that Glenn Roeder had decided against taking up the offer on Oguchi Onyewu (“Goochâ€) – who has been on loan from Standard Leige since January.
Presumably, from what we can piece together, Standard Leige wanted an answer from Newcastle United last Friday as to what their intentions were regarding the player. With Onyewu not in the side recently it is perhaps not too surprising that he will be let go – although there has been no confirmation of that from Newcastle.
Gooch started six games for Newcastle and has come on three times as a substitute. His best performance was probably the game against Liverpool – when the Newcastle defense tightened up significantly in the second half of that 2-1 victory – after a harrowing first half against a rampant Liverpool side.
Some fans feel the American international needs more time to adjust to life in the Premiership – but it appears Roeder has made his decision – and it is not to be.
Currently it also looks like Bramble (too many mistakes) and Moore (too many injuries) will follow Onyewu out of the door in the summer – when their contracts run out.
So for next season we have Taylor and Ramage as center backs (they certainly played well together for a stretch of about 10 games when the defense looked quite solid) and of course we have the two youngsters Huntington and Edgar (both usually center backs) coming through. Roeder has indicated he will loan some of the youngsters out to Championship sides next season and it looks like 19 year old Edgar will be loaned out for the season – to give him the playing experience he needs.That may not happen to Huntington – although if we bring in two new center backs expect Huntington to be loaned out for maybe a three month spell at some stage during the season.
Gooch certainly seemed committed to Newcastle United, was a fan favorite and he made it clear he wanted to stay – but it looks like that will not happen – so we must expect that Roeder has lined up some replacements.
The last thing we want to do is let the three center backs leave and then struggle to replace them during the summer – which will of course be difficult now we will not have European football on offer next season.
Let me know who you think Newcastle should sign for central defense during the summer – seems we will need at least one experienced player to bring the youngsters through.
6 responses so far ↓
1 MKL // Apr 26, 2007 at 3:29 AM
Gooch would have been a good acquisition. If not into starting XI – there aren’t too many commanding center backs available.. In any case – lot will depend on who will get promoted and who will get relegated.
I would like to see Newcastle to get either Lucas Neill or Luke Young, other one of them WILL be relegated and both of them would boost our defense..
To center there’s of course Curtis Davies and Anton Ferdinand.. However, for some reason I hope we won’t sign either of them – Woodgate would be by far the superior option of all. I just don’t think we have a chance to get him anymore… After Woodgate, I think we should try to sign Distin and/or Jagielka..
Poor Roeder – trying to look so pragmatic and probably will end being fired by not doing the tough decisions.
2 Ed Harrison // Apr 26, 2007 at 8:36 AM
MKL – I like Luke Young – he would be good but we do have Nobby Solano – who may start at right back next season – not sure if Luke can play on left.
Distin would be good – but Roeder keeps saying he doesn’t want him.
Think we’ve lost out on Woodgate because of Roeder not really wanting him last summer – but he would be a dream acquisition for us in our current plight.
Roeder has to be aggressive in Xfer market – right from the start. We need good defenders – not much else really.
3 Ahmed Bilal // Apr 26, 2007 at 10:52 AM
Ed, maybe you can take a closer look at the relegation candidates and see whether there’s anyone going to be easily available?
4 Neil // Apr 26, 2007 at 11:22 AM
They should keep Onyewu. He’s a powerful player who will only get better. He doesn’t have an attitude problem and really wanted to stay. This is a questionable decision for Roeder to make. I can only assume he is going to use this money (4 mil?) to add to a big bid for Curtis Davies, who will probably command a fee of around 10-12 million.
5 Ed Harrison // Apr 26, 2007 at 1:12 PM
Neil – I also like Gooch – and hoping that he stays at Newcastle – maybe we can get him a one year contract to let him prove himself – not sure if he would accept that.
6 Ed Harrison // Apr 26, 2007 at 1:14 PM
Ahmed – if West Ham take the plunge – then Anton Ferdinand’s name keeps coming up – and if WBA do not make promotion then Curtis Davis is there.
But if we do unload our center backs – think we need an experienced one in there.
Not sure why we’re not all over Distin – but Roeder has said more than once he doesn’t want him – don’t know why?
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