After yesterday’s news about Edmilson potentially being tracked by Newcastle it is now being reported by the Times and Sky Sports that Newcastle United have agreed a deal, in principle, to sign Edmilson from Barcelona for a nominal fee.
Edmilson still has one year left on his contract at the Nou Camp but has agreed to join Newcastle – he will be out of action for 4-6 months while recovering from knee surgery, but it has not deterred Allardyce from launching a bid – at an opportune time as it turns out.
Edmilson
A delegation from Newcastle including manager Sam Allardyce, chairman Freddy Shepherd’s son Kenneth – and European scout Paul Montgomery flew to Catalonia yesterday afternoon after Barcelona president Joan Laporte gave them permission to talk to the player.
It now appears that Allardyce has come to an agreement with Edmilson, who can play at centre-half or in a defensive midfield role. During the trip to Catalunya, Allardyce is also understood to have enquired about the availability of former Chelsea striker Eidur Gudjohnsen – and that’s all we know right now on the Gudjohnsen link.
While at FC Barcelona Edmilson has suffered two serious knee injuries. The one he sustained last year was a tearing of the cartilage in the right knee in warming up for the World Cup. Technically the injury was a rupture on the lateral side of the meniscus of the right knee- and it forced him to pull out of the Brazilian squad on June 1st last year.
The Barcelona club Doctor operated on Edmilson last year and he also underwent an arthroscopy on his right knee only last Thursday which was described as a cleaning of the cartilage and the meniscus. This is not particularly good news but apparently his knee had not been responding well to the operation of last summer. Club doctor Ramon Cugat also who carried out this latest procedure. It certainly doesn’t seem as serious as Owen’s injury sustained at last year’s World Cup.
Don’t be surprised if Edmilson is jetting his way to Dr. Richard Steadman, at the Steadman Hawkins clinic in Vail, Colorado soon. Dr. Steadman is the best knee surgeon in the world and has handled knee injuries for Michael Owen, Craig Bellamy and Alan Shearer and a good relationship exists with the club – mainly because Steadman has been so successful with these players. We would expect Steadman to be the Doctor who will oversee Edmilson’s recovery and fully check out his knee injury and history.
A little bit of condensed playing information on Edmilson from yesterday:
Edmilson (full name is José EdmÃlson Gomes de Moraes) is 6’1″ tall and of Italian descent. He won his first cap for Brazil on July 18th, 2000 and now has 42 caps with one international goal. He was in the Brazil side that won the World Cup in 2002 in Japan and South Korea, but was forced to withdraw from the 2006 competition in Germany because of the knee injury mentioned above.
He first played for Sao Paulo (Brazil) in 1994 at age 17 – and played for them 72 times in all – scoring 3 goals. He then moved to Lyon in France in 2000 and played 124 times for them scoring 3 goals. In 2004 he moved in a ₤7M deal to Barcelona and has played over 80 times for the Spaniards with no goals.
We think Edmilson will be an excellent signing for Newcastle and also trust that before he plays for Newcastle we hope his knee is in perfect condition.
Comments always welcome.
22 comments so far
LiamBirchy8
Jun 29, 2007 at 2:44 PM
Comment #1at the Nou Camp not Bernabau and he will be a good signing can tutor taylor
LiamBirchy8
Jun 29, 2007 at 2:46 PM
Comment #2hopefully gudjohnsen will follow we apparently offered 6m but dey want 8m so they are thinking of meeting in the middle at 7m
http://www.goal.com/en/Articolo.asp...
Ed Harrison
Jun 29, 2007 at 3:06 PM
Comment #3LiamBirchy8 – whoops – fixed it – thanks.
It would be great to get the two of them – always liked Gudjohnsen and he was with Sam at Bolton for just over a season. Can we afford the extra 1M?
Hope so! 😀
nightfall
Jun 29, 2007 at 3:35 PM
Comment #4we don’t need any of them… i think edmilson is too old for us…spanish league is totaly different then PL…players need time to adapt, and with edmilson…he’s injured, old, and before he adapts he’ll be 33…IF we can fix his injury …and gudjohnsen…oba and owen are both WAY better then him so replacing them with gudjohnsen would be a huge stap back… with the midfield barca and chelsea have, gudjohnsen should score at least 20 times per season and as for edmilson…SL is opened..they don’t play defensively…and in PL? you know the answer…if we could get him 5 years ago, that would be great, but now…no fu****g way
StevieA
Jun 29, 2007 at 3:53 PM
Comment #5Edmilson too old? He is in his prime at 30!
He hasn’t played many games in the last year and we can reap the rewards of that. If we send him to see the top people like we did with Shearer, Owen and Bellamy then he will be 100% fit in October.
The boost that he can give our club is priceless. You are failing to see the point that we can sign him for around £1-2 million as his contrast runs out in a year. It’s an opportunity to bring a world class international to the club and we shouldn’t be scared to offer him a contract, people get over injuries in all walks of life. It shouldn’t stop you signing a player, age doesn’t come into it at 30.
As for Gudjohnsen, he should join us as he won’t play games at Barca. Why not go somewhere where you can get 20+ games a season? and be idolized?
nightfall
Jun 29, 2007 at 4:09 PM
Comment #6steviea – 20+ games and 3 goals? no thank you!!!
as for edmilson…he’s injured and before he adapts it could take a season or 2 or 3…plus he played in la liga…they don’t play defensively at all…he will suck here… i just don’t want we make a mistake…like milan did with redondo… and he was way better then edmilson will ever be…
StevieA
Jun 29, 2007 at 4:17 PM
Comment #7Gudjohnsen is a very gifted player. I know he should score more goals – I accept that fact. However he can contribute so much to a team, if Arsenal signed him he would be fantastic for them because he can hold the ball up well, play people in and make chances for others. Basically he can make things happen much like Beardsley used to do for us. (Minus Beardo’s brilliant goal record)
It could take a while for Edmilson to adapt. However we don’t know what Sam has in mind for him. The fee and wages would be peanuts anyhow so I don’t think it will worry Mike Ashley. They will no doubt get the money back from shirt sales. It’s a risk but I have a feeling he will do well for us. Who knows we may play him at right back rather than centre back.
nightfall
Jun 29, 2007 at 4:22 PM
Comment #8well yes…but we already have midfielders who can create goals…so if owen or oba leave we need strikers that score…
Shaun
Jun 29, 2007 at 4:28 PM
Comment #9I think Owen and Oba should look what Big Sam is up too, I think they may be making a mistake if they move, I can feel it in my water that were in for a good season.
StevieA
Jun 29, 2007 at 4:31 PM
Comment #10Very true but with the new backing they would soon be replaced. I hope Martins & Owen stays it’s not as if the club has no ambition is it?
I have a feeling that Owen may just be sick of the press to be honest. It looks bad with him not discussing his future with local papers but maybe he just wants to get on with playing? I still wish he would say something though.
Shearer said he will stay so unless Man United come in for him I think he will. I would love us to try and get someone like Crespo but can’t see it happening!
We will sign Rigters soon I think. Gudjohnsen is almost a done deal (2m difference) They will probably settle on 7M I would think.
nightfall
Jun 29, 2007 at 4:44 PM
Comment #11if they leave we should try to get adriano…when he’s in form he’s probably the best there is…and sam knows how to make players happy so they can give their best…
StevieA
Jun 29, 2007 at 4:47 PM
Comment #12^^^ I would take Adriano in a heartbeat! 😀
He would be phenomenal. Crespo would be fantastic (little chance though), the new generation also look good such as Babel and Rigters. Plenty of quality players, Berbatov even?
Dustin
Jun 29, 2007 at 4:50 PM
Comment #13I will be abso gutted if we loose Oba but if it happens we must not wait in bringing in the Hunter, pure Klas.
Geordie joe
Jun 29, 2007 at 4:54 PM
Comment #14nightfall – how can you say spanish based players will ‘suck’ over. All you go on about is collocini.
nightfall
Jun 29, 2007 at 5:02 PM
Comment #15well…we do still have luque…and when sam starts working with him, you never know what can happen…
StevieA
Jun 29, 2007 at 5:26 PM
Comment #16^^^ I agree again with what you have said. Luque is a talented player who has lost his confidence but it’s time we got the best out of him not just for us but for his career too. He should be full of confidence in a better team next year.
I would certainly keep him on the bench when he is available and perhaps play him in cup games to get some games under his belt too. Hopefully he will get off to a flying start.
Klas Huntelaar.. how could I forget about him! 😉
Ed Harrison
Jun 29, 2007 at 6:02 PM
Comment #17I think Sam will know exactly how to use Edmilson – and we really have no idea who Sam may be after right now – that’s why he’s so good in the transfer market.
StevieA
Jun 29, 2007 at 6:18 PM
Comment #18Agreed. He just seems to be on the phone one minute and on a plane to Barcelona the next! He’s determined you have to give him that!
I would like to see us buy players from Barcelona and Real Madrid. Even the fringe players have plenty to offer our squad and we should look at the players who can’t quite make the first team who need an opportunity to shine. They are all very good technically which is something we need in the team – good passers.
Guy
Jun 29, 2007 at 10:09 PM
Comment #19don’t think Edmilson’s wages will be peanuts he’s currently paid 80k a week! but if we can get him fit and ready for the second half of the season he will lend a touch of class to our defence and help plug a hole in midfield in case of injury. good move Sam.
StevieA
Jun 29, 2007 at 10:51 PM
Comment #20Guy – Peanuts for Mike Ashley! The fee is nominal so he would save us money in a big transfer fee anyway. That’s the way I see it, same with Viduka. Massive wages but he will save us a big transfer fee + wages. Also shirt sales, Edmilson would sell a lot of shirts.
I think Edmilson would be straight in the team when fully fit. We will have to see if Sam can clinch the deal though. It makes sense for him to move..
nightfall
Jun 30, 2007 at 1:00 AM
Comment #21i’m still against signing emerson…i think there are pleanty better players… the only reason i think sam’s after him if because he plays for BNT (country with probably the best players in the world) and barcelona (they’re one of the best), so he has a winning mentality…that’s it…
Guy
Jun 30, 2007 at 10:20 AM
Comment #22just because mike Ashley can afford it doesn’t mean it is a good deal. 80k a week is a lot of money for an old, injured player who we don’t know will be a success in the premiership. To accept bad deals just because we can afford them demonstrates the kamikaze business sense that has prevailed at newcastyle over recent years and I don’t think it is the way BS or Mike Ashley want to run the club.