Some reasonable news early this morning, that not all players in the Newcastle squad are at the same priority, in terms of Newcastle wanting to move them out of the club.
The Times is reporting that Newcastle officials have distributed a definitive list of players they would prefer to move on at the earliest opportunity, and that is in the hope hat a core of the club’s best players can be retained for the Coca-Cola Championship campaign.
The players that Newcastle want to move out as quickly as possible are the following players:
Kevin Nolan – £60K
Joey Barton – £65K
Jonás Gutiérrez – £50K
Gérémi – £65K
José Enrique – £50K
Fabricio Coloccini – £60K
Obafemi Martins – £65K
Shola Ameobi – £50K
Xisco – £50K
The numbers next to each name is a rough estimate of their weekly wage, so those 9 players currently cost the club £515K/week – they are just not worth it.
The club hopes they can generate enough funds form those 9 players to keep the rest of the players not listed although our free agents, Michael Owen, Mark Viduka, Claudio Cacapa and David Edgar will not have their contracts renewed and will come off the wage bill at the end of this month.
Birmingham have already offered Edgar a 4 year deal, so he has the chance to play in the Premier league next year, if he accepts that offer.
Those 4 players whose contracts end at the end of this month will save around around £240K/week.
Those 13 players above will save the club about £755 per week, which is just over £39M per year, and that will reduce the wage bill from £74M to about £35M, but of course we’ll need to get more players in, but their wages will necessarily be modest compared to those of the players who are leaving.
We think that’s the list that Alan Shearer gave to Mike Ashley, so at least something Alan told Mike has been used, but with every layer up for sale, it’s really just a technicality because if some club bids the price Newcastle have listed, they will sell.
So the players Alan wants at the club to build on are Harper, Beye, both Taylors, Butt, Guthrie, Duff, Bassong, Smith and Lovenkrands. And there’s one common thread with all those players – all 10 play their hearts out for the club.
Probably the only real surprise there is Alan Smith, but nobody ever accused Alan of not playing with passion and pride, and of course his physical aggressive play would be very good in the Championship, and no doubt he would be very willing to stay on Tyneside, if Alan Shearer is manager, to help the club back to the Premier League.
And of course we have some top-class youngsters like Carroll, Forster, Krul, Vuckic, Inman, Ferguson, LuaLua, Kadar, Tozer, Ranger, Adjei and others, who will in all likelihood be part of the first team squad next season. That’s the basis of Newcastle’s future, and there are some excellent young players in that group.
So there’s about 21 players good solid players, who will form the basis of the first team squad for next season, and Shearer (if he is manager) will need to bring in maybe about 6 -10 additional players to complete the squad.
But with all players on the transfer list, if say some club came along for Sebastien Bassong, for example, and is willing to pay say £12M, he’s on his way.
It is hoped that Newcastle can generate enough funds form these transfers to prevent the sale of other players at the club , including Sébastien Bassong and Habib Beye this summer. Nevertheless, Ashley and his advisers accept that they are in no position to turn down any reasonable offer for any player.
What Newcastle need now more than ever, is a manager in place, like Alan Shearer, who we know for sure is wanted buy at least two of the four consortia bidding for the club.
So why not get him in now, to get some real work started, before 3 weeks have gone by since the season ended, and nothing has been done on getting new players in, or trying to keep some of the good players we still want.
It is more than cavalier by Ashley to put every player up for sale, especially since he will no longer be owner of the club within a matter of weeks, and rumors have it the City Council are to throw a party, in Eldon Square no less, when he leaves Toon.
There will be lots of Newcastle fans celebrating, in sheer relief, when the club is finally sold, and Ashley leaves Toon. It will be new beginning on Tyneside.
Comments welcome.
44 comments so far
power ranger
Jun 11, 2009 at 11:44 AM
Comment #41agree shot bru; edgar looked good at cb. academy player with the club in his blood, and with colo and possibly bassong departing he should be kept
Macas35
Jun 11, 2009 at 1:02 PM
Comment #42Ian – Since when has Cisse had determination and pride? That’s not what the sunderland fans think about him, the exact opposite in fact. As for Martins, he is on massive wages and has scored less goals than Owen for the last two seasons, so why should we keep him?
ian
Jun 11, 2009 at 2:02 PM
Comment #43Macas Cisse won them the game that kept them up, he scored the only goal, he often gets the cruical goal, remember he is only £8-£10m too.
Martins scores goals and provides assists as well as makes up for a poor midfield, 1 by creating chances from nothing, 2 by forcing the opposition to keep players back because of the his danger on the counter.
Martin was injured, not in the prime goalscoring position, Owen had that position most of the season, and he is not expensive.
Open your eyes to the cost of better players than Martins, they are around £20m for a good striker and over £25m for a brilliant one, expensive as Martins is for a championship side he is a very cheap striker in the premiership if we go back up next season you reckon the new owners can afford £40m for two strikers, £30m for two central midfielders, £22m for two wingers and so on?
If someone takes over with a tight budget I would loan Martins out for one year, but if they can afford to subsidise the extra £20k per week it would be worth it, especially if they get a good youngster alongside him.
ian
Jun 11, 2009 at 2:06 PM
Comment #44The wages are high because we were a top half of the table side, we had over 62% spent on wages as do all of the top half sides, a numpty bought us tried to cut some of the wages to a 6th from bottom type of wage, but still was paying too much for the level they fell too and didnt build in any relegation clauses in to cotracts in case the cost cutting sank the team, easily done for anyone who didnt know what they were doing.