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News, Views and Comment On Newcastle United Football Club By Ed Harrison, A Proud Geordie And Lifelong Fan

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Newcastle In Link With Cameroon International

May 2nd, 2008 by Ed Harrison · 33 Comments

It’s getting to the silly season we know, but today Newcastle United have been linked with Lille’s Cameroon International Jean Makoun.

jean-makoun.jpg

Jean Makoun - Cameroon International plays for Lille in France

We don’t know if there is any truth in these reports but our policy during the transfer window is to at least report on each player we are linked with, in case we finally get the player.

In any case we find it interesting to see what the player may be like , and whether he may be good for the club – and there’s no harm in that.

Some reports today that Newcastle United will fight with Man City for Lille’s 24 year-old midfielder Jean Makoun.

Apparently Newcastle have already let the French club know of their interest for the Cameroon international, though Manchester City may still be favorites after having an initial bid turned down in January.

However, with Sven Erikksson tenure at the club probably ending this summer, a new manager will need to be brought in and that may take some time, so now is a very good time for the Tyneside club to make a move.

Makoun has played for Lille 149 times since 2001, and scored 8 goals. He turns 25 later this month and stands 5’8” tall.

Comments welcome.

Tags: Newcastle News · Transfer News and Rumours










33 responses so far ↓

  • 1 seetow // May 2, 2008 at 17:12

    i personally wouldn’t mind this lad, he has the qualities of a player that could make it in the premiership. strong, quick and a technically gifted player, he could be our solution in midfield.

    yet, he remains unproven in a major european league and he doesn’t exactly bring much height to our midfield..

  • 2 Geordie Gerrard7 // May 2, 2008 at 17:13

    hes quite a canny player

  • 3 obafemimartins // May 2, 2008 at 17:16

    i would see what happens if he goes to city cos we could always buy him off them if he is very good.

  • 4 Hamas (51times) // May 2, 2008 at 17:18

    obafemimartins - If he goes to City and makes it, why would they sell him to us? Use your brain will you.

  • 5 Tom_Toon // May 2, 2008 at 17:22

    Makoun, quick?!? We’ll have to agree to disagree on that one.

    Good passer from deep, just a steady player, nowt special.

  • 6 Gordon // May 2, 2008 at 17:42

    Sounds like an archetypal Portsmouth signing for about £6m

  • 7 Hadrian // May 2, 2008 at 17:45

    sven or no sven , he wasnt making the signings this summer anyway :D
    the media went on and on about our wise and co getting in the way of our managers signings , they didnt see man city comming did they :D

  • 8 ToonDaft // May 2, 2008 at 18:24

    should be aiming for better quality - he is canny, don’t get me wrong, but even in current league he doesn’t look amazing or owt - good enough for euro challenge next season???

  • 9 Leo // May 2, 2008 at 18:37

    shorty

  • 10 tapir // May 2, 2008 at 18:42

    unproven untested

  • 11 irish_toon // May 2, 2008 at 18:49

    @Leo,
    HEY!! theres nothing wrong with being small :)

  • 12 Oba // May 2, 2008 at 18:57

    Saw him in the ACN, he looked quite good. Sort of player that will replace the aging Butt. Would be good if we got him imo.

  • 13 Tom_Toon // May 2, 2008 at 19:14

    Man, he was the worst ive seen him in the ACN, he got subbed off at 30 mins the times he started and only played for 20 mins when he was subbed on.

  • 14 Ashton // May 2, 2008 at 19:39

    Get M’bia Please

  • 15 Fernando // May 2, 2008 at 19:51

    http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=531062&cc=5739

    GATTUSO WANTS TO PLAY IN ENGLAND

  • 16 daiv // May 2, 2008 at 20:07

    What are we trying to achieve with many of the players we linked to? Most are not good enough to break into the top 4 and if we are buying sub top 4 players now, how many years is it going to take us to break into the top 4? What is the club’s ambition? We have a billionaire owner who has spent next to nowt and the club is aiming to buy mid table players from abroad. Disappointing.

  • 17 Leo // May 2, 2008 at 20:18

    just keep telling yaself that irish toon lol. haha ;-)

  • 18 toonbully // May 2, 2008 at 20:27

    Daiv , sorry to disagree with you but he’s alraedy spent a fortune getting rid of 80 - 90 million pounds worth of plc debt . His personal fortune did that . He did not choose BSA , so he was not keen on giving funds to him . He was prepared to fund him in January , but KK was happy to stick with his squad . He will spend but not on crap , give him time and a little….PATIENCE…….

  • 19 robertsa // May 2, 2008 at 20:36

    we could do better than this guy what about bullard or nolan

  • 20 Terry // May 2, 2008 at 21:20

    Makoun is better than both of those two.

  • 21 apan // May 2, 2008 at 23:25

    makoun is more a DM i think, bullard and nolan is an all different player together

  • 22 scott9 // May 2, 2008 at 23:45

    makoun is a great player and would be a great signing in my opinion play him in the dmf role or as back up for butt he would be a great player

  • 23 Dondatta13 // May 3, 2008 at 1:09

    Bring in the B&W Van man …. Van der Vaart for the toon!

  • 24 Mike // May 3, 2008 at 1:15

    I picked this guy up in my Football Manager game, along with Kim Kallstrom from Lyon, really improved our midfield

  • 25 seetow // May 3, 2008 at 5:56

    this guy is godlike in fm08. but then again, so is duff.

  • 26 mike // May 3, 2008 at 8:26

    hes brilliant on football manager!

  • 27 iain // May 3, 2008 at 9:27

    good player but gone down hill a bit by staying at lille as theyve declined since there days of beating man utd in the champions league a few seasons back, should of left like bodmer and odewingie did.

  • 28 robertsa // May 3, 2008 at 9:31

    ID GET MAKOUN OR VAN DER VAART

  • 29 robertsa // May 3, 2008 at 9:35

    WHEN YOU THINK OF IT WE ARE GOOD AT PLAYING 3 IN THE MIDLE SO IS THIS KID BETTER THAN MILNER BARTON DUFF BUTT . IF NOT ITS POINTLESS TO GET HIM. ESPECIALLY WITH NAMES LIKE VAN DER VAART BEING LINKED WITH US.

  • 30 autibo // May 3, 2008 at 10:50

    Key signings -

    long-term Butt replacement (1.Veloso 2.Mbia 3.Muntari)

    playmaker with PASSING ability (1. Vaart 2.Diego 3.Moutinho)

    commanding quality centre-half (1.Dunne 2.Garay 3.Kompany)

    long-term viduka replacement (1. Huntelaar 2.Santa Cruz 3.Ashton)

    …then a few squad players who are good enough to challenge for places and provide good cover i.e. Nolan, Bullard, Shorey, Gardner, Larsson, Doyle etc

  • 31 Elliott // May 3, 2008 at 12:26

    How would people feel about raiding Citeh now they appear to be in ineer turmoil?

    I’d take Elano, Onouha, Johnson, Richards

  • 32 adam // May 3, 2008 at 15:45

    what about genoro gattuso of ac milan as he wants to play in england £8m.

    dimtar Berbetov not in spurs squad the day so looks lile he is leaveing

    given
    beye
    tayor
    dunne £5m
    riise £5m
    milner
    gatuso £8m
    quresma £15m
    martins
    owen
    gomis £9m
    = £42m

  • 33 robertsa // May 4, 2008 at 9:20

    Id have

    given
    beye cuellar dunne taylor
    milner makoun vaart
    zidan owen martins

    zidan-10million
    cuellar-5million
    dunne-5million
    makoun-8million
    vaart-6million

    thats 5 quality signings for 34 million










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