Arsenal are ready to make a £3.5M offer for Newcastle United goalkeeper Shay Given.
Shay Given – will Newcastle be tempted to sell?
It’s another report in the News of The World today, and we think because Arsenal have been linked with Given in the past, and they are looking for a new goalkeeper, that’s the reason behind the story.
But this time Newcastle just may be willing to sell, because reseve goalkeeper Steve Harper was so consistently good at the end of last season, when Shay was out again with his groin problems.
The 32-year-old Irishman, who has played 86 times for Ireland, is fit again after being out since last February with his groin related injuries.
Arsenal want Given to fill in for the departed German Jens Lehmann, whose contract was not renewed, and he has since moved to Stuttgart.
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger will not be worried by Given’s age, he turned 32 in April, because Lehmann was 33 when he signed from Borussia Dortmund.
And in any case we think both Steve Harper and Shay have taken such good care of themselves they could well play until they are 40.
Given joined Newcastle United from Blackburn Rovers for £1.5M in the summer of 1997, and he has played close to 400 games for Newcastle United, and consistently has been one of the top five Premier League keepers each season.
He’s one of Newcastle’s best ever signings, and we think the best keeper ever to play for Newcastle, just edging out the great Scot, Ronnie Simpson of the 1950s. who went on to star for Celtic under Jock Stein after leaving Newcastle in 1960.
Ronnie left Newcastle for Hibs when he was 30 years old in 1960, and after 4 seasons there, went to Glasgow Celtic from 1964-1970, and played for the Scottish giants 118 times, until he was 40 years old.
This may come as a surprise to Newcastle fans, but we wouldn’t be surprised if Newcastle let Shay move on, although of course he and his family are very settled in Newcastle.
However, the £3.5M fee seems too low.
We have two top 20 year-old goalkeepers in Hexham-born local boy Fraser Forster, and Dutchman Tim Krul, who could both back up Steve next season.
Comments welcome.
86 comments so far
Ashton
Jun 8, 2008 at 12:43 PM
Comment #41mmmmm did he kept any clean sheets last season ??
Geordie Nick
Jun 8, 2008 at 12:47 PM
Comment #42people on here keeps saying ‘its harpers turn now’ as shay has been number one for years, simple fact is, thers a reason why given has been first choice and harper backup, GIVEN IS A BETTER GOALKEEPER THAN HARPER, simple as that, hes been injured all season, and when hes played hes still played at a good level, really pisses me off how quickly sum of u arseholes turn on players, and forget the hundreds of world class saves that given has made over the past 10yrs that have won us countless points. we hav 2 decent young keepers, but thts all they are, young and decent, they havent proved themselves at a decent level over a sustained period yet and they need to be loaned out until they do tht so we know exactly how good they are cos i certainly dont want to be trusting untested keepers when we cud have shay given in goal!!!!! we shouldnt even be considering sellin our bets goalkeeper
sirjasontoon
Jun 8, 2008 at 12:52 PM
Comment #43Hey just think if we change managers again now that will mean we will not have to spend any money in the transfer window.
Keep up graham that Duff link is 2 weeks old.
Bill F SPLASH THE CASH ASH
Jun 8, 2008 at 12:52 PM
Comment #44Well if he does go I hope he manages to stay injury free, I still have my doubts on that score so it could be a good deal for us. I don’t think we will have any problems as regards GKs as I reckon both Krul and Forster could step up now if the need arose.
On a much different non football note can I say to any Irish people on the blog, please vote NO this week. You will be doing the rest of Europe a big favour especially as our Big Brother states aren’t allowing us the opportunity to vote.
Ashton
Jun 8, 2008 at 12:53 PM
Comment #45scottish mag
Your team lacks depth imo
The Vicar
Jun 8, 2008 at 12:57 PM
Comment #46Totally agree but would like more £s. I’ve always held the view that Stevie H is as good, and also now we have Fraser and Tim coming through.
Let Shay go with our good wishes (except when he plays us).
Chris
Jun 8, 2008 at 1:01 PM
Comment #47He’s been the best keeper we have had,and a crying shame if he left,but hey the lad has been a loyal servant and could have left many times chapeau shay and good luck if you go.As far as him being wee made me laugh he’s 6’1″ there must be some giants in the toon
CRAIGG
Jun 8, 2008 at 1:03 PM
Comment #48Reillers spot on mate
He is amazing and with him fully fit next season we will be a force
I like Steve, But christ does nobody remember the last 11 years of Shay single handedly winning us 20 points a season
I hate this thing about Shay having no command of his area, as the stats below prove this is the usual bollocks spouted on this blog
00-01 Shay kept 10 clean sheets, we finished 11th
01-02 Shay kept 14 clean sheets, we finished 4th
02-03, Shay kept 19 clean sheets, we finished 3rd
03-04 Shay kept 18 clean sheets, we finshed 5th
04-05 Shay kept 15 clean sheets, we finished 14th
05-06 Shay kept 18 clean sheets, we finished 7th
He hasnt played enough the last two seasons if he had we would have finshed much higher
TBH i dont even care if he doesnt boss his defence, its a pile of crap that Match magazine and Sky have ranted on about since Schmeichal retired, The thing i care about is our keeper stopping the ball from going in the net therefore Shay is the best we could wish for.
reillers
Jun 8, 2008 at 1:05 PM
Comment #49Ashton..
I think by now, unless you’ve only been a Newcastle fan for a wee while, then I apoligise if you have, but keeping a clean sheet with our defence is almost impossible. A few at the most each season is what we usually get, it doesn’t tell the whole story, our defence leaks goals like my shed rood leaks when it pisses..(a lot). A keeper like we even saw with Harper this season, could play outstanding all match but some genius like Smith could could gift a team a goal. Just lets say it doesn’t tell the entire story. We can’t be expecting to be like United and only concede 15 goals a year or whatever it ended up being.
Now if Given was behind a defence like that he’d be considered the best I’d say.
Davy, excuse me for my lack of Geordie slang like, but what does canny mean?
CRAIGG
Jun 8, 2008 at 1:08 PM
Comment #50Weirdly it sometimes helps conceding, The ammount of times we won under Bobby after going a goal or two down was amazing
conceding seemed to spur the team on to get the victory
If we can get more players with that mentality next season we may do something instead of players that give up after conceding at Wigan and Derby.
scott9
Jun 8, 2008 at 1:31 PM
Comment #51lets not be stupid sahys goin nowere
dan
Jun 8, 2008 at 1:33 PM
Comment #52He has been an excellent servant for the club and I can understand ppl wanting to keep him but I think he deserves the chance to win something at Arsenal. We saw at the end of last season that we have an equally good local keeper in Harper who IMO takes corners better and is a better kicker of the ball. Also with these two good keepers (don’t forget Soderburg) I don’t think we need to worry about the position. I think if we sell him now we could get at least £6m, (hell Sunderland payed £9m for Gordon who is half the keeper.) Then we could maby buy defensive cover for Jose or a midfielder, Does anyone know what I mean. Then we will be better off and the Goalkeeping coach still has 4 keepers ( 1 top mature and 3 top potential) I think at least 1 of those 3 will be a future international, maby Krul with Holland! Then everyone is happy, Shay, Steve,Arsen, Kevin,the younger keepers up the pecking order.
Plus I think Shay would walk into the Arsenal first team ahead of Almunia. Let him go folks he deserves it.Plus you ppl saying Harper is not as good,let me tell you, Harper would have long been and still might be the England no.1 if it wernt for Given. He is ice cool under pressure!
M. Stockley
Jun 8, 2008 at 1:41 PM
Comment #53the thing we really have to consider aswell is can you imagine how rubbish it would be if shay was on the other team on match day?! shay has been a great servant to us for 11 years and it would break my heart to see him leave…. nothing wrong with having 2 top goalkeepers, imo thats been one of our high points in recent years keeping both harps and shay, we need strenght in depth everywhere this includes gk’s.
luke
Jun 8, 2008 at 1:41 PM
Comment #54hes no going anywhere…personally i think hes a better keeper than harper, no need to sell either of them we have the money if ashley will splash the cash!!!
Hopeful for next season and given would be a big part of it, he deserves to do well
micepie
Jun 8, 2008 at 1:42 PM
Comment #553.5 my giddy arse! When I saw your headline I thought “ah, maybe if we got at least 10M for Given we should consider it”. But…err…no!
Paul
Jun 8, 2008 at 1:44 PM
Comment #56Arsenal say 3.5 million
Newcastle say 8.5 million
Deal done at 7 million.
This transfer stuff is easy!lol!
lee atterton
Jun 8, 2008 at 1:45 PM
Comment #573.5 million? thats a laugh, with our back four hes put up with for the last 10 years people have still rated him as one of if not THE best keeper in the league, could you imagine how better he would be if he had one of the top four teams defence infront of him, he’d be then the best keeper in the bloody world, hes fantastic for the garbage hes had infront of him with us, £6 million at least plus nicolas bendtner please.
51times
Jun 8, 2008 at 1:48 PM
Comment #58Bill F – The fascist EU will get their way regardless. They don’t care about Democracy, what the people have to say means nothing to them. Even the Torries are pro-Europe now so I would suggest to anyone of voting age to vote UKIP whenever the next elections should come up. We’re in a battle for our freedom and independence here, don’t underestimate how dangerous the EU are.
Marty
Jun 8, 2008 at 2:32 PM
Comment #59Goin nowhere,this guy should have a statue beside SIR BOB.
He has put up with absolute crap defences for yrs n Alex Ferguson has said he 1 of the best keepers many times……..
Wee Shay is a legend.
ScottyT
Jun 8, 2008 at 2:32 PM
Comment #60nooo way man! yes harper is a fantastic keeper who ive backed to keep the no1 jersey next season but.. given is still a world class keeper and a gr8 lad. we shouldnt buy any keepers nor sell any keepers. its tha 1 position where you look and go.. well thats definetly strong enough.
fair enough injured a lot recently and tht has affected his game (marlon harewood tha b@st@rd!).. but ther is still a world class keeper in ther and if we sold him me and am sure a lot others would be very upset. Harper + Given = Ultimate Club Loyalty – speciallly harper mind.
Marty
Jun 8, 2008 at 2:34 PM
Comment #61GINOLA said that Spuds are goin places after winnin the cup n that he didn`t know why we didn`t win the league when we had the chance but that we need to win something B4 we start goin places.
We are miles off n thats an understatement 🙁
reillers
Jun 8, 2008 at 3:00 PM
Comment #62Scotty T..Why especially Harper, he stayed fine fair enough but so did Given and unlike Harper Given could have gone anywhere, he had offers Harper didn’t. Given put up with our wee lads at the back for all these years, horrible horrible defenders.
Still fair play to the lads. Both very, very loyal.
We can’t expect to keep 2 world class keepers just for the sake of it. Just to say oh we’re strong there, oh we’ve depth there. It’s selfish and both keepers deserve better.
YongMalaysia
Jun 8, 2008 at 3:27 PM
Comment #63wil let he go if arsenal make good offer, 6-8mill wil be enough for a 32year old keeper. we stil hav harper and krul or foster to back up.
this money wil be good to add in the transfer kitty.
beye the great
Jun 8, 2008 at 3:42 PM
Comment #64given is a legend and if any one is forgetting how good he is then just look him up on youtube can any one remember that season when sounes was in charge he basically kept us in the league
Bill F SPLASH THE CASH ASH
Jun 8, 2008 at 3:57 PM
Comment #6551times, I’m glad someone else sees the bigger picture. I for one do not trust the EU policy makers. You only have to look at the expenses furore with MEPs to see the corruption endemic in the system. It’s little things (actually not that little) like the Irish voting against the EU constitution which gives any hope.
Another example of creeping Big Brother is putting age levels on books, for gods sake what are parents for.
Sorry fellow Toon fans for bringing this into the blog, but you are in this as well. It affects all of us in Europe and voices have to be raised wherever and whenever.
ChrisL
Jun 8, 2008 at 3:58 PM
Comment #66Great player but I’d be happy to sell him now for £4/5 million.
micepie
Jun 8, 2008 at 4:11 PM
Comment #67Am having 2nd thoughts about this now. Would be pleased for Shay as he would have a good chance at honours with the Arse, but I would far rather we did a swap deal for one of Arsenal’s many talented fringe mf platers. Or get more cash than 3.5. Plus if it does happen we shoud recall Krul so we have Harper/Forster/Krul. In Harper we’d still have a better gk than 3/4 of other Prem teams.
reillers
Jun 8, 2008 at 4:20 PM
Comment #68Bill F, I agree and I’ll be voting no.
ragav Np
Jun 8, 2008 at 4:24 PM
Comment #69Let everyone go ,release or sell .This team is pain in da a** .We are not going to achieve anything with these guys.As MA seems to be in bankrupt condition or something he doesn’t have any money to buy players we’re going to suffer this season too.We all should raise funds and perhaps give it to f**kin Ashley then he would at least buy someone.
chris_toon
Jun 8, 2008 at 4:25 PM
Comment #70The Sun and News Of The World are sister papers so that says it all really lol !!!
ende
Jun 8, 2008 at 4:49 PM
Comment #71If all we’d get for Given is max 5mil, then how is it possibly worth it?? Keep Given and Harper, put Forester and Krul on loan. There’s just really no incentive for selling goalies in this market.
reillers
Jun 8, 2008 at 5:14 PM
Comment #72Bill F, I agree and I’ll be voting no.I don’t know anyone who isn’t voting no.
There are so many things wrong with the treaty I don’t even know where to begin. First of all, with this treaty, we wont be Irish or English or French or whatever, we’ll be European first and foremost. It’ll completely loose our sense of identity and our culture.
Why would we want a German having more say of what goes on in Ireland then an Irish person. If we vote yes on this then we will be more then a wee bit anonymous in Europe. Our power ranges from 0.8% to 2% to Germany’s 17% and 48%. There will be consequences if we vote no especially when you look at our economy which is on the brink on another collapse, free fall. We’d need the EU but you know what, feck the EU, feck them all. I don’t know a single person who’s voting yes.
Bill F SPLASH THE CASH ASH
Jun 8, 2008 at 7:16 PM
Comment #73Reillers, brilliant news, thanks. I realise that Ireland has done ok with the EU but somehow I think it won’t last. It is going to become a money pit. (It already is)
arsenal no trophy in three years
Jun 8, 2008 at 7:35 PM
Comment #74side step if you ask me they havent won anything in nearly four years , are losing their best players got crap fans and their manager has forgotten what its like to win shay should stay.
Ian
Jun 8, 2008 at 8:57 PM
Comment #75I think we should sell Given for a good price, he uis a good keeper but we should sell while he is worth something, Harper and krul are quality keepers and the money raised needs spending on the defense which will reduce the goals conceded.
reillers
Jun 8, 2008 at 9:18 PM
Comment #76Ian, would you like to be playing against him though an important match where we need to win and playing against Given, I wouldn’t, I’d be more then a wee bit anxious.
toonoot
Jun 8, 2008 at 9:46 PM
Comment #77Shays had two seasons too many
toonoot
Jun 8, 2008 at 9:48 PM
Comment #78The sunday sun man. howare man, gerra gri p
Jameso
Jun 8, 2008 at 11:00 PM
Comment #79If he had half good defenders in front of him ppl would be sayuing best in the prem im sure of it!
Bill F SPLASH THE CASH ASH
Jun 9, 2008 at 1:04 AM
Comment #80I wasn’t calling Ireland a money pit, I meant the EU.