News today that Stephane M’bia may be one step nearer moving to Newcastle United.
Stephane M’bia - interesting Newcastle
It seems Newcastle have been interested in Stephane for several months now, and that Everton and perhaps Manchester City are also interested in the Cameroon youngster.
However the Rennes attacker Stephane M’bia admits he may still stay with the French club next season.
The 21 year-old has just over two years left on his contract, but the good news is that the Cameroon international gained his French passport this week.
This will allow him to easily move to England.
M’bia said today:
“I think another year at Rennes could be good for me.”
“But if a big club comes in for me, I will leave.”
We hope that big club is Newcastle, and we can bring in more players like this 21 year-old.
They still have some progress to make in their development, yet are already playing top-class football.
That will be in addition of course to the established stars we will sign, who will walk straight into our first team.
Comments welcome.
64 responses so far ↓
1 Rocky // May 15, 2008 at 4:09 PM
I don’t think this will be a good signing. He is young and talented but he is also a Cameroon international, hence he will go AWOL for a month in January, which will leave our squad heavily depleted.
2 Davies // May 15, 2008 at 4:11 PM
As long as there are plenty of other players in the same position that shouldn’t be a problem, but we can’t take on too many more African players.
3 Kash2 // May 15, 2008 at 4:13 PM
@Rocky: That is the STUPIDEST comment I have ever read. It’s like a Chelsea fan saying:
“Drogba and Essien are proper shit because they go to the ACN every year!”
Like Chelsea fans would ever say that!
EDIT: Oops, totally forgot to write the point, which is that we should judge the player on his ability not his international status!
4 Leo // May 15, 2008 at 4:14 PM
some of our afro players will retire from int football soon so its not too devastating
5 azim // May 15, 2008 at 4:15 PM
he is not an attacker but a DM who also capable of playing at RB…why we need him since we have a good cover at those positions??
6 geordie nick // May 15, 2008 at 4:16 PM
if we sign m’bia and are also apparently in talks about diane then thts another 2 players we’ll loose to acon every other yr, we already lost 4 this yr and it made quite a big difference if u look at our performaces when they were away. still think hed be a good singin tho
7 Whitt // May 15, 2008 at 4:17 PM
plus, the ACN is still only every 2 years.
8 geordie nick // May 15, 2008 at 4:18 PM
azim what u talkin about? who is our cover at rb and who is our cover at dm?? we have no cover in either poistion
9 Kash2 // May 15, 2008 at 4:19 PM
We do need a top quality DM!
10 Davey G // May 15, 2008 at 4:19 PM
Fair comment rocky but the ACN takes part every other year, and a club the size and stature of ours we should be able to absorb this twice a year??
11 geordie nick // May 15, 2008 at 4:21 PM
i think we can probly afford to have 2 more african players in the squad other wise it would start to be a bit 2 much losing that many players
12 TomPoon // May 15, 2008 at 4:22 PM
Arshavin
13 Rocky // May 15, 2008 at 4:27 PM
Kash 2 – I never commented on the ability of the player. He is young and talented and I am not being racist. All I wanted to highlight was the plight of this January, where our form dipped when the African players left. Funny how our fortunes started to improve as soon as they were back.
If we had adequate cover, that’s fine, but they would need to be good enough to deputise for a month.
14 Tom_Toon // May 15, 2008 at 4:29 PM
Id be completely underwhelmed by this transfer, glad there is no substance in the title of this article.
15 Chris Mort // May 15, 2008 at 4:32 PM
The official website of Newcastle United FC, http://www.nufc.co.uk will be the first website to report all transfers completed by Newcastle United FC this summer.
There are also a number of other features on the website such as a vote on the club’s player of the season and a Newcastle World video in which the players talk about their plans for the summer.
Finally, the club’s new away strip will also be revealed shortly.
I would advise fans to take any speculation on any other websites and in newspapers with a pinch of salt. The official website is the only site on the internet you can trust 100%.
16 Dillon // May 15, 2008 at 4:33 PM
it’s every two years soo we won’t miss anybody next season
17 broon ale // May 15, 2008 at 4:45 PM
i dont understand how his comments suggest he is one step closer to joining newcastle. can someone explain that
18 Hadrian // May 15, 2008 at 4:50 PM
@broon ale .
its ed and his crap headlines again , serve no point other than to wind up toon fans imo .
headlines are as phony as the sun’s or the mail .
19 Ashton // May 15, 2008 at 4:51 PM
M’bia is great he is tall and strong a bit like sissoko but better imo we need a hard working player and M’bia is the man
Tom_Toon oh you don’t like him cause he scored two goals against tunisia is it? you little nerk
20 geordie nick // May 15, 2008 at 4:52 PM
broon ale- i was thinking th exact same thing, it says hes one step closer to signing, then says he might just stay at rennes another year!!!
21 broon ale // May 15, 2008 at 4:53 PM
Hadrian i agree, its getting on my tits now.
22 Tom_Toon // May 15, 2008 at 4:54 PM
First and foremost the title annoys me (yes, i get annoyed by little thing), hes not my type of player, hes a work horse. So no need to have a go cos i dont like ths player.
23 broon ale // May 15, 2008 at 4:55 PM
geordie nick- i am starting to realise that we are waisting our time reading these storys of us linking us with one play after the next. This guy say he would prefer to stay at Rennes but somehow that warrants a headline suggesting he is one step closer to newcastle- Bizare
24 Toon_Ksk // May 15, 2008 at 5:03 PM
If its one step nearer, then I’ll take it as a baby step.
25 Mehzeb // May 15, 2008 at 5:08 PM
I agree broon ale. The heading is misleading. It’s just as you said, “bizarre”. The quotes have nothing to do with Newcastle, yet, the titles says otherwise. The proper headline should’ve been “M’bia may quit Rennes’, or something to that effect.
Ed, please, no more misleading titles. It’s frustrating, and it makes us question this site’s credibility. Please don’t turn into the Mail!
26 Andreas // May 15, 2008 at 5:32 PM
@Broon Ale; ’cause he got his French passport and will now be able to move without filling the quota for Internationals played (still don’t mean he will join NUFC, but nonetheless it will make it easier for him to move from Rennes to a PL outfit).
27 Tom_Toon // May 15, 2008 at 5:33 PM
There is no international quota in the premier league.
28 Andreas // May 15, 2008 at 5:43 PM
So the need for non-EU citezens to have played a certain number/ratio of Internationals (or other “special circumstances”) in order to get a “work permit” in the UK/England is removed…or?
29 sas1 // May 15, 2008 at 5:44 PM
I agree with a lot of the above. It’s surely enough to report any transfer gossip each day in a post, but these endless posts without any substance are really annoying. “We” hope it’s not going to continue during the summer because I won’t be back until August 31st otherwise, and I do really enjoy the site.
30 Tom_Toon // May 15, 2008 at 5:45 PM
I understand you know, but the way you described it it was as if he there is only a certain amount of foreigners you can have in a PL team, thats what a quota means.
31 Tom // May 15, 2008 at 5:53 PM
on a different note fifa are voting this month on whether to introduce the 6 plus 5 rule where every team has to field a minimum of six players from their own country. At the moment we have five but six if you include smith (noooooo) or carroll instead of viduka. So if this comes about, wouldnt it be more likely that keegan and wise are focusing on english targets? just a thought
32 lonely toon army // May 15, 2008 at 5:53 PM
big fat ashley i hate you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
33 Reformed_Mumbler // May 15, 2008 at 6:01 PM
@ ‘Chris Mort’
There’s one place every Newcastle fan should go on the net:
http://www.nufc.com
Niall and Biffa deserve the kudos of every sincere Newcastle fan by visiting the above site to see their continuing sterling work and best of all it is a ‘fan’s voice’.
34 faustino // May 15, 2008 at 6:04 PM
Chirs Mort…if that is your real name! lol
No it won’t mate …there will be countless sites carry an accuracte story first. The update speed on nufc.co.uk is attrocious!
Tom-Toon – since he’s refering to the ‘quota’ of international appearances you need to meet before an ROW player is considered for a work permit, his use of the word is right mate
35 Tom_Toon // May 15, 2008 at 6:07 PM
Ye, i misread it, it said ‘played’ but i thought it said ‘player;.
My apologies Andreas, however i think hes played 80% of Cameroon’s internationals in the past 6 months so he would qualify anyway (?)
36 faustino // May 15, 2008 at 6:16 PM
Yep…although tbh that rule went right out of the window circa 97 when the French started signing up and re-nationalising half of North Africa.
For the grace of God and that rule Lalas would have ended up at our club, although the same rule kept Freidel from signing. Eventually ended up at Liverpool a year or so later.
37 scott 9 // May 15, 2008 at 7:27 PM
rennes attacker mbia io though he was a defensive midfileder but maybe im wrong
38 robertsa // May 15, 2008 at 8:25 PM
this doesn’t excite me like especially when we are being linked with the likes of gomis and cisse.
you always have to look at where the player will fit he aint good enough to go upfront. he aint a defender and the midfield of three is going to be so hard to get into next year especially with mgceady and arshavin possibly coming.
I love to see a signing but not on this one. Sorry if any of you’s like him lads but it would be a no from me.
39 Ed Harrison // May 15, 2008 at 9:12 PM
Note: The Chris Mort who left the message earlier on this article is the actual Newcastle Chairman.
I know that for sure.
40 Geordie Gerrard7 // May 15, 2008 at 9:30 PM
well buy us veloso then big chris, also huntelaar or gomis wouldnt go a miss, also arshavin
41 Leo // May 15, 2008 at 9:57 PM
haha well done Ed either your having a laugh with us all or you have a real influencial fan of the site, hopefully we can praise certain players in a way of getting him to open the check book, lol only joking, as long as the cash is spent well. i trust keegan all the way
42 Geordie Gerrard7 // May 15, 2008 at 10:47 PM
veloso, gomis, arshavin, dunneymonster and lulinha, get big dennis doing the once over on lulinha. we want to be great again Mr Mort
43 Bill F // May 15, 2008 at 11:03 PM
Ed I do actually believe you, the comment had a feeling of gravitas and realism.
Having said that if it is in fact the real Chris Mort I hope you are taking notice of the players we do not want to see at the club especially as far as I am concerned that donkey Dunne.
You know who we do want starting with Arshavin, Gomis, Tomashyk (you know who I mean).
Come on fellow bloggers if it is him state your wish list. Oh if he has been following the blog . he already knows it.
44 Ashton // May 15, 2008 at 11:26 PM
to Chris Mort !!
sign with
Fernando Amorebieta – CB
Fernando Meira – CB
Miguel Veloso – DM
Stephane M’bia – DM
Mauro Zarate – AM, SS
Bafetimbi Gomis – Target Man
45 Geordie Gerrard7 // May 15, 2008 at 11:36 PM
MIGUEL VELOSO MIGUEL VELOSO MIGUEL VELOSO MIGUEL VELOSO MIGUEL VELOSO MIGUEL VELOSO MIGUEL VELOSO MIGUEL VELOSO MIGUEL VELOSO PLEASE MR MORT PLEASE I AM BEGGING YOU, DONT LET THIS ONE SLIP, like luka modric going to spurs.
46 Geordie Gerrard7 // May 15, 2008 at 11:40 PM
also mr mort, i just would like to share my appreciation of your running of the club, you are doing a smashing job and a big thanks to big mike.
one question and one question only (Tubes), Who the hell is that big samoan bloke who is always with mike ashley at the games? i like him but just want to know his name.
47 richie // May 15, 2008 at 11:43 PM
who is m’bia similar to??
48 richie // May 15, 2008 at 11:48 PM
wow chris mort was on!!v good!well chris your doing a great job and if u or wisey are reading we should go get
gudjohson
bridge/shorey
gomis
cuellar
dunne
mcgeady
all these and im sure the fans wel b more than happy and wel walk 5th!!
49 sirjasontoon // May 16, 2008 at 1:33 AM
Hello Chris I hope all is well.
As a long suffering Newcastle supporter I was wondering how you plan to push the club forwards? As at the moment we are way down the premiership pecking order and lack the ambition of smaller clubs like Villa,Spurs,Pompey etc?
It seems that Mr Ashley is not so keen to put his money where his mouth is in the transfer market and buy decent players that are proven at the highest level.
I for one was not Freddie Sheppards biggest fan but he did excite the fans with some big signings and backed his managers financially.
The impression I get is that the recruitment team has poor communication skills and if I was a player Dennis Wise would not be able to impulse me to sign on the dotted line due to his persona and history.
I predict that we will sign nobody of any interest this window ,so please ask Mike to dig deep and spend some serious money (prove us all wrong)and give us a team to be proud of in seasons to come.
Thanks
50 Aussie dave // May 16, 2008 at 6:16 AM
Ed
If that was Chris Mort, than that is impressive.
Makes a fool of others who bag this site
Your 4 million odd hits are starting to be recognised.
maybe this site will be the voice of the fans, that actually gets heard!
51 THELONGSHANKS // May 16, 2008 at 9:20 AM
I would just like to see a new signing soon,i think personally it wud have been better had we not heard about the modric deal.Hoping we get at least one player thats makes us say ‘wow,how the hell did we get him? ‘
52 Cyprus Toon // May 16, 2008 at 9:24 AM
Now if that is the ‘Chris Mort’ then I’m I’m Alan Shearer… lol
But it would be nice if like Alan Sugar did, he came onto a web forum & answered all the questions that the fans asked, so that we knew what was going on but I doubt it will ever happen.
Anyway, we’ll sign who we sign & no matter how much we moan & groan about it, it won’t make any difference to who we get & how much MA allows KK to spend..
53 stk // May 16, 2008 at 11:18 AM
I am going to say one thing to people who don’t understand why ashley isn’t as easy with his money as shepherd was…. it made no financial or business sense, we were going to do a leeds under shepherd, for sure, ashley cleared 100 millions pounds sterling of debt, that is a bloody amazing thing to do, shepherd would’ve never used his personal fortune to help us, he extracted what he could when he could and some people still miss his ridiculous overblown non-sustainable crap signings? get real! use your head abit man!
Ashley and Mort have done a fantastic job so far imo, thinking sustainably for the future and not just for today. sound planning, if only we all had it!
actually, it doesn’t suprise me that Chris Mort reads your site Ed, its thorough but then there are more articles cropping up that are really brainscratchers.
My summer signings would be any from:
Barzagli (leaving Palermo)
VELOSO (DM also cover for CB)
Crouch/Gomis
Arshavin (hope nufc management watched the uefa cup final!)
Barnes
Ryan Taylor (Impressed me alot as fullback for Wigan, also RM)
Diego
Mota
Bodmer (all round midfielder)
Garay (solid CB for the future)
Merida
any of them i’ll be happy
54 Ed Harrison // May 16, 2008 at 1:00 PM
Bill F – I know by Chris’ email.
BTW – will try to improve the headlines to be more real.
The one step closer was meant to be he has an EU passport now.
55 Ed Harrison // May 16, 2008 at 1:03 PM
You can all laugh – but that was Chris Mort – I’m serious.
I actually agree with his comment – any transfer is only official when it’s announced on http://www.nufc.co.uk.
And it’s a great site – but some of the excitement for us all is in the speculation – as long as we know that’s what it is.
56 Ed Harrison // May 16, 2008 at 1:05 PM
Geordie Gerrard – I have this feeling you like Miguel Veloso – am I right?
57 NealNufc // May 16, 2008 at 1:06 PM
Hi Ed,
If indeed it was Chris Mort he would at least have got his official website correct which is:
http://www.nufc.premiumtv.co.uk/
58 Ed Harrison // May 16, 2008 at 1:49 PM
Neal – http://www.nufc.co.uk is the official site.
But hey it’s not my job to convince you it was Chris.
59 NealNufc // May 16, 2008 at 2:37 PM
Hi Ed,
this is not a comment so don’t post it. http://www.nufc.co.uk is a redirect to the site i mentioned earlier. try it in your browser and see.
60 Geordie Gerrard7 // May 16, 2008 at 2:41 PM
Ed- Just A bit
61 mushy // May 16, 2008 at 3:20 PM
To SIRJASONTOON and thousands of others like him who labour under the delusion that Fat Fred was prepared to put his hand in his pocket to support his managers.. NO HE DIDN’T.
The money from FF came predominantly from the NUFC floatation followed by income from games and merchandising; in other words from shareholders and true supporters.
If Jasontoon or anyone else can quote one single example of Fat Fred putting his hand into his pocket (other than filling it with self appointed salary and dividends) I’ll eat my laptop.
Mike Ashley however, IS spending his own money to help the Toon (even if it is to raise its value for a future profitable sale).
Arshavin!
62 CRAIGG // May 16, 2008 at 3:21 PM
Ed, Show us the E-Mail and i may believe it
Anyone can pretend to be someone for example:
63 Jackie Milburn // May 16, 2008 at 3:22 PM
Hi this is Jackie Milburn
The official website of Newcastle United FC, http://www.nufc.co.uk will be the first website to report all transfers completed by Newcastle United FC this summer.
64 CRAIGG // May 16, 2008 at 3:26 PM
Ok, well my example never worked but anyone can Impersonate someone else
If your better on a computer than i am anyway
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