This story never seems to to go away, but there again we suppose there’s not much news about Newcastle over the last two weeks or so.
Oba Martins – very popular at Newcastle
The Sunday Mirror is reporting today that Newcastle United will sell star striker Obefami Martins for £15M, to bolster manager Kevin Keegan’s transfer fund.
Martins joined Newcastle for £10M from Inter Milan two years ago, and is one of the very few Newcastle buys whose transfer value has actually increased while at the club.
The Sunday Mirror says Martins is stunned by the news – and we’re not surprised by that, because it’s just not true. 😀
Newcastle manager Kevin Keegan returned to his desk last week, and has said nothing at all to the press since arriving back, and we’re still trying to work out if that’s good news or bad.
The Sunday Mirror is saying the Newcastle summer transfer kitty could be as low as £20M – unless Kevin raises money by selling some of his current stars.
We’ve already sold Emre and Rozehnal for around £7M, and Ameobi will go soon, hopefully for another £3M at least, and we should sell Alan Smith for as much as we can get for him – let’s say we can get £4M for him at least – we paid £6M for him last summer.
Even if the Sunday Mirror is right that Ashley will give £20M, that still has Kevin getting around £34M, but the fact we were willing to offer £18M for Luka Modric earlier this summer must put serious doubts on that £20M figure.
We’re not sure why these papers keep bringing Oba Martins up, and keep saying we will sell him.
Selling Martins would not make the Newcastle fans happy at all, since he is a popular player at the club, and it seems it will not make Oba too happy either.
The boy is a good player, and loves playing for Newcastle, and has said more than once he loves living in the city, and doesn’t want to leave.
When will it ever end?
Comments welcome.
68 comments so far
HonoraryGeordie
Jun 29, 2008 at 10:15 AM
Comment #1I would cry!
Danish_Magpie
Jun 29, 2008 at 10:17 AM
Comment #2We should NOT sell Martins! He is quality, passionate, quick, strong, scores goals and seems to love playing for us. What more could we want?? If we end up having 35-40m to spend after selling players, fine by me. That’s enough for the 6 or so quality signings we need.
Andrew
Jun 29, 2008 at 10:19 AM
Comment #3so would i! lol
selling Martins would give out the wrong signs and confirm were selling our better players i hope not though.
mark
Jun 29, 2008 at 10:21 AM
Comment #4anotha pointless article… news now is just pants.. bring back “no news is good news” sites like nufc.com… nufcblog is one of those sites that just adds to the speculation…no decent news but gossip…
scottish mag
Jun 29, 2008 at 10:21 AM
Comment #5we need to keep martins, he is pure quality.
all we need to do is get some creative players to give oba and owen some chances to score,
also the whole arshavin thing has gone quiet hasnt it hint hint hint
meiny_obano9
Jun 29, 2008 at 10:22 AM
Comment #6we cant sell martins. he is our best player nd he can only get better.
Egar
Jun 29, 2008 at 10:26 AM
Comment #7It will end when the season begins, Ed. Judgement Day! All that silence (ain’t golden) from NUFC sure is deafening with the trash we’re hearing.
craig chisholm
Jun 29, 2008 at 10:27 AM
Comment #8i think ashley would sell his kids for the right price.
However, i dont think martins is being sold. sold for what exactly? so we can buy another striker to replace him with, now theres some serious Mirror logic for you! shit southern paper. not even good enough to wipe ya arse on. they said we were close to selling milner etc just last week, its obviously martins turn again this week.
Clive
Jun 29, 2008 at 10:31 AM
Comment #9Sounds like anouther humungous pile of bovine feces yet again from the inbred element of the media.
Ross R
Jun 29, 2008 at 10:31 AM
Comment #10The sunday mirror is full of shite. Dont belive a word of it, he’s not going anywhere.
Beastie
Jun 29, 2008 at 10:33 AM
Comment #11oba is a leg end well he will be in a few years he is class, if we sell him we may aswell hope for a md table fi
ToonKing
Jun 29, 2008 at 10:35 AM
Comment #12wish someone would come out and end all this stupid speculation.
Matt
Jun 29, 2008 at 10:36 AM
Comment #13We won’t sell Martins, the mirror is toss.
Even if Kevin does only have 20m it’s plenty enough to get a couple of good players just to bolster the ranks. We need to build slowly and not just go for the kill in one season because it won’t come off. Look at Liverpool, they went for a big hit with little or no pay off. We need a spare RW, a new CB, a new CM, a LB wouldn’t go amiss and we will be fine for about 7th place in the league I think.
If we’re paying more than 20m for those 4 positions I’m worried.
WIGAZ
Jun 29, 2008 at 10:37 AM
Comment #14I wish these soft sothern shandy drinkin twat journalists would just piss off & stop toon bashing! we took a chance on oba when no top teams were interested & it paid off! he’s a good player who will be great! & he’ll do it in a black & white top! he loves the club & we love him! i hope we have a great season & play some great football! up yours jounalist twats!
Nev
Jun 29, 2008 at 10:38 AM
Comment #15best player at the club and arguably the most most popular with the fans.
if we sell him to “raise funds” there will be an outcry of anger against MA … billionaire my arse
Dev
Jun 29, 2008 at 10:38 AM
Comment #16Lee Ryder from the Chron started this with yesterdays headline ‘Keegan Dealt Transfer Funds Blow’….with the story being about Shola’s move to West Brom….
The Entertainers
Jun 29, 2008 at 10:38 AM
Comment #17Couldnt agree more with Craig, the paper is drumming up the same old rubbish.
Newcastle for a change (one for the better) are conducting their business within th walls of SJP and not in the press. There appears to be no ‘insider’ anymore, or at least at the moment and the southern press are struggling. Lets face it when the papers do have a story worth printing about Newcastle i bet their sales go up dramatically!…..no story, lets make one up!
Oh and throw in the lack of funds Newcastle have as well. Why? to provoke someone within Newcastle to come out and appease the fans with ‘dont worry we have significant funds’ remarks like the Mackems!
Thats right we have sold a number of players to an already small squad and we are going to blow all our cash on Modric! Pull the other one.
There are strongly rumoured bids for Gomis and potential bids for others. All these players would cost a huge transfer fee. Dont believe it folkes Ashley will come through and Newcastle will be the better for it……
Put it this way do you think Keegan would still be here if not?
Reformed_Mumbler
Jun 29, 2008 at 10:41 AM
Comment #18Stop perpetuating the rubbish and the press don’t just have it in for Newcastle, they print rubbish about all clubs, and it is not disproportionally more or less than say Spurs or Liverpool. Yes it is annoying as hell, but time to drop the persecution complex.
beye the great
Jun 29, 2008 at 10:43 AM
Comment #19martins is brill but one of his best aspects is that despite being one of our best players and could play for any of the top 4 he has said that his main goal is to become a legend not just a well thought off player or a gary speed type legend dont get me wrong i think the world off gary speed but he wants to be held in the same light as shearer , keegan, milburn, robson and y because he loves this football club
mark
Jun 29, 2008 at 10:47 AM
Comment #20lol. this site removed my mail because i called its gossip type articles… controversy..
Terry Macs Crossword
Jun 29, 2008 at 10:48 AM
Comment #21Off topic, but i think juan arango (real mallorca) could be our new nobby. many assists last season and not a bad scoring record for an AM. maybe we’ll see him in preseason when we play Mallorca? anyone care to p**s on my chips?
ToonKing
Jun 29, 2008 at 10:50 AM
Comment #22except he’s half as good as those guys…..
robertsa
Jun 29, 2008 at 11:00 AM
Comment #23id rather sell owen.either way we need a striker to go in place of viduka he is the weak link in our stike force i like the look of zigic and chamakh who we have been linked with
Egar
Jun 29, 2008 at 11:00 AM
Comment #24Come on, ToonKing, he’s not that short.
On a serious note, Oba’s one of our current best and it would be foolish to let him go.
Hadji
Jun 29, 2008 at 11:02 AM
Comment #25I hope this is just a bad dream,I thought they learned the lesson from Andy Cole’s case but obviously they havent.Its ok,life is about learning.
Hadji
Jun 29, 2008 at 11:06 AM
Comment #26Lazio got Zarate,so one less target to worry about……NEEEXT.
Geordie Nick
Jun 29, 2008 at 11:08 AM
Comment #27what wud be the point in sellin oba for 15mil to raise transfer funds, when wed hav to then raplace oba, and we’d hav to spend the full 15mil to buy a striker good enough to replace him. seems pointless to me
Egar
Jun 29, 2008 at 11:10 AM
Comment #28You’re right, GN. The little dynamite is one of a kind. Keep him!
mozza
Jun 29, 2008 at 11:14 AM
Comment #29i was at an evening with malcolm mc donald the other night and it verified my suspicions that he’s about as far gone as he’s first shite, opinion number 1 oba is worse than useless, that’l be why that hopeless coach arsene wenger rates him so highly then
CRAIGG
Jun 29, 2008 at 11:15 AM
Comment #30Has anyone noticed that the Owen stories have gone really quiet this summer, After he come out on telly and said he was signing a new contract.
Taylors links to the ” BIG 4 ” have died down since he said the same and was negotiating a new contract.
Milners liverpool link has died a death as has N’Zogbias urge to dress in pearly clothing and eat jellied eels has waned as well.
So as no one believed them i doubt anyone will ever believe this crap story as the gutter press have recycled it every month for the last 2 years and Arsenal have never made any move.
Anyway Im looking forward to seeing it again next week.
chuck
Jun 29, 2008 at 11:15 AM
Comment #31A quality player, who seems to have a good rapor with the fans and vice versa.
Yes he probably gets paid well and he would also bring in a decent price, but to be replaced by who ?
players like Arshavin are allready on fifty grand a week with bonus`s added and no one is coming for peanuts, face it the ball is in the players court (and their agents)
I am sure Ashley would like to have a situation like Everton (reputed to have a fifty grand wage cap in effect) but its not gonna happen.
Take Ronaldo(please) if he can up and leave Man. U. and Abador can tell The arse to go pound salt or pay me, yeah even a successfull teams like Arsenal and Chelski can`t hang onto players unless they pay big bucks.
Looks like Mr ashley is ether going to have to compromise or head for the Champions League, which could have quite easily have happened last (forget about) season.
Your choice !
Mad_Magpie
Jun 29, 2008 at 11:16 AM
Comment #32An interesting piece here on transfer targets. Guillem Balague is an as reliable source as you can get.
http://www.guillembalague.com/rumores_desp.php?id=28
Hadji
Jun 29, 2008 at 11:17 AM
Comment #33Yes GN you’re right and i agree with you.They wont replace him with adequate replacement,instead they’ll bring some cheap imitation for 3-4 mill.
Egar
Jun 29, 2008 at 11:20 AM
Comment #34You’re pure sunshine, Hadji.
CRAIGG
Jun 29, 2008 at 11:24 AM
Comment #35@ Spyro when you come on here.
i was reading a thing you wrote the another day and i couldnt help but take offense at something you wrote about Lassana Diarra being so superior to Nicky Butt.
Butt:-
39 England caps
Peles player of the tournament in World Cup 2002
1 Champions League title
6 Premier league titles
3 FA Cups
1 Intercontinental Cup
1 Intertoto Cup
Diarra:-
10 France Caps
1 FA Cup
Yes Diarra is younger but he at his best he wouldnt have been fit to lace Butts boots when he was at his peak, If Diarra has a 10th as good a career as Nicky Butt has then he will have done really well.
Also Diarras attitude stinks, You seem to have forgotten when Big Sam tried to sign him and he demanded £90k a week or he would stay sat on Arsenals bench and when he says every month or so how he will leave pompey when a better club comes along, great attitude to have.
Compared to Butt who despite doing everything and more comes back two months early to compete in the intertoto cup (twice), Can you imagine any other players who have achieved what he has at Man Utd and with England doing that ?
Most would refuse to play in a 2nd rate piss pot cup like that but Butt never moans and gets on with his job which he does bloody well and is constantly let down by his team mates.
Yet still having the will to win that he shows every week and amazing attitude that Nicky Butt has shown to win our fans over twice.
Despite unwarrented abuse on this website has been our most consistant player for the last two seasons.
He is a better player and man than Diarra can ever wish to be.
GDP
Jun 29, 2008 at 11:25 AM
Comment #36I always thought McNally was a toon supporter but he continues to write speculative nonsense about the club. He is becoming as bad as Comical Olly in his attempts to wind up the Geordie Faithful – especially drawing in comparisons with the mackems. Mind you the club is not helping itself with the current vow of silence…. talk to us please!!! This is the longest King Kev has kept quiet too!
mozza
Jun 29, 2008 at 11:31 AM
Comment #37mc donalds opinion number 2 and this was worth paying the enterence fee for, mike ashley is ploting world domination with spurs as that is the club he supports and he has only bought newcastle as a feeder club to sell spurs the youth we are going to develop ha ha i know theirs a silence at st james’s at the moment but this kind of speculation is beyond a joke
euanpolo
Jun 29, 2008 at 11:34 AM
Comment #38We should be selling Smith etc. NOT MARTINS!
Gareth
Jun 29, 2008 at 11:38 AM
Comment #39My. Arse.
Gareth
Jun 29, 2008 at 11:42 AM
Comment #40Spot on CraigG – and in addition, the way Butt turned it round and got (most of) the fans back after that dodgy first season and being sent out on loan is remarkable. I think some people just still think of the FA Cup semi-final and convieniently ignore everything since.