News tonight that Spanish Primera Division side Sevilla are looking at Newcastle’s questionable Argentine center-back, Fabricio Coloccini, who has lost his place in the Argentine national squad because of his less than stellar performances for Newcastle this year.
Fabricio Coloccini – mediocre at best for Newcastle this year
The 27-year-old is saying he has not settled in England, but that’s nonsense, he wants away because Newcastle are in the English second division, and we wouldn’t have heard a word out of him, if we had not been relegated.
Coloccini put in a number of average (at best) displays this year and did little to help Newcastle avoid relegation. He is not good enough in the air, as we all saw against Liverpool last December, when he was continuously beaten in the air by Sami Hyypia from corners.
And he doesn’t have enough speed to be a top player in the Premier League, as the Newcastle club and the Newcastle fans found out last season.
Newcastle paid an outlandish £10M to Deportivo, who have more than once got high transfer fees for Newcastle for questionable players (remember Albert Luque?).
Since relegation, Fabricio has made no secret of his desire to leave Newcastle, since the club will not be able to afford his £65K/week wages in the Championship. Coloccini is one of 9 priority players the Tyneside club has put up for transfer this summer.
He hardly earned his high wages last year, but he was not alone in the Newcastle squad for not playing well enough – given the wages the club has paid out.
Owner Mike Ashley wasn’t too much good last season, but the players have to take the major responsibility for getting the club relegated, and Mike must be wondering what he got for the £74M wage bill he had last year. Answer – not much.
That wage bill is in the top 3 or 4 in the Premier League last season, and the Newcastle club finished 3rd bottom – what if wrong with this picture?
Such is the state of the Newcastle club right now, in complete disarray because owner Mike Ashley has decided to sell, and will not appoint manager, that the club will accept half the fee they paid last year for the player.
So that would be around £5M, and that’s within 12 months – so he was hardly a good buy by a certain Dennis Wise, was he?
Luckily, Coloccini has a long-term admirer in Sevilla coach Manolo Jimenez, and with Sevilla securing Champions League football for next season there will be cash to spend to strengthen the side, and we hope they’ll bid high for the player – and anybody from Sevilla reading this – we were only kidding above – and Fabricio really is a great great player.
Sevilla finished third in La Liga last season, and there are reports that the player’s representative, Marcelo Lombillo, said,
“Fabricio [Coloccini] was disappointed with the decline in Newcastle.”
” We are considering several offers, all of them from Europe. One of the options on the table is a club from Southern Spain.”
Just let’s add some truth to that quote – the decline was caused by players like Coloccini not playing well enough for the club, given the huge wages paid out to them.
The club has a right to expect better, and they just didn’t get it from the squad last season, and that’s the principal reason we were relegated.
Looks like Fabricio is trying to rewrite the history of last season already – best of luck matey!
Comments welcome.
51 comments so far
dicka9
Jun 16, 2009 at 5:46 AM
Comment #41I don’t like the bitterness aimed at players when its unjustified. I agree Collocini fell short in the premier league to which he clearly wasn’t suited but as previous people have said, he never hid and was always committed. Sometimes the blame lies fully at the feet of the people who scout players and make decisions to bring them to play football to which they are not suited. Collocini will return to Spain and be sucessful in doing so.
I agree entirely with the point that the midfield are just as much to blame for their failure to retain the ball. Focus is put on the defence too much and I think it was the lack of midfield quality that ultimately saw us relegated. Couldn’t keep the ball, couldn’t create chances and couldn’t contribute goals. My biggest worry is that we could end up playing with a largely unchanged midfield next season.
davis_toons
Jun 16, 2009 at 6:20 AM
Comment #42the botom line is Fabricio Coloccini is not a bad player.
davis_toons
Jun 16, 2009 at 6:21 AM
Comment #43He is a team player and when play as a team he can be a dangerman. For our infor, he do score goals from range.
lesh
Jun 16, 2009 at 8:28 AM
Comment #44“Fabricio [Coloccini] was disappointed with the decline in Newcastle.”
Oh was he? He aint the only one, that’s for sure!
Another of Wise’s gems however, true to form, Stardust’s on the defensive.
I reckon if Collo had been one of Keegan’s buys, Sawdust’d have a different view.
lesh
Jun 16, 2009 at 8:31 AM
Comment #45Dragonera // Jun 16, 2009 at 12:39 AM @33.
Might we be seeing the signs of sheer frustration in Ed’s articles? Understandable under the circumstances don’t you think?
stevep
Jun 16, 2009 at 9:51 AM
Comment #46To be fair to Collo he tried his best and never took the injury route as have many of our foreign under acheivers – we can hardly blame him for taking the wages Wise and co offered him – he probably thought he was good enough.
Another Ashley / Wise / Jiminez cock up signing along with Xisco, Guiterez, Nacho – I thought Jimenez was meant to be on the ball when it came to the spanish league – no wonder he high tailed it out at the first opportunity.
What a waste of money!!
monkeymagic
Jun 16, 2009 at 10:24 AM
Comment #47This article is pathetic.
When we signed this lad i was wetting my pants with excitement. Hes proven hes a top class defender in european and international football, maybe hes not best suited to the premier league but bugger me if i was him and all the crap thats happened this year id certainly be unsettled aswel.
Hes the most consistant injury free player weve had in many a year. His performance against Man Utd 1st game of the season was top notch and continued to look solid and getting better in every game, then low and behold we go from drama to drama, and slowly he started to look more shakey.
Totally agree with Stardust on the S.Taylor situation, he can be a ‘local’ lad all he wants and have sheer passion running through his veins, but his headless chicken positioning leaves his partner at the back totally vunerable.
Its quite hilarious that Ed has made a judgement on one lads first season in the premier league (which has seen colo have Keegan, Hughton, Kinear, Hughton, Shearer as manager…not the best help to settle in) and not based any judgement on the previous quality seasons hes had, the spanish league requires alot sharper vision and movement, not as physical but it requires alot more skill, pace and vision at the back.
He’l go elsewhere and he’l be a class act.
Its NEWCASTLE UNITED thats crap, NOT colocinni
Stardust
Jun 16, 2009 at 10:44 AM
Comment #48Monkeymagic – a light shines through and gives me hope…….its the fans that need to change more than anything. They could be our biggest strength – but at this moment are our biggest weakness.
Nick 69
Jun 16, 2009 at 11:09 AM
Comment #49all you lot complaining about ed’s articles, why don’t you all f*ck off to that other blog, where all the stories will be written by super intelligent ‘informed’ people, where obviously all the articles will be absolutely spot on – or they could be full of sh*t like everything else stardust spews out
Stardust
Jun 16, 2009 at 11:59 AM
Comment #50Nick 69 – why do you have to lower the tone. I appreciate I frustrate you – but no dout you have been frustrated for years in your own life and you simply use this blog to vent your frustration. Dont worry fella – I dont take it personally – I see your weakness and will offer a helping hand if you need it.
Never been a one to mock the afflicted.
monkeymagic
Jun 16, 2009 at 2:14 PM
Comment #51Nick69 – im happy to read through a hell of a lot of crap, it fills my time, but when a completely idiotic article like this one slating a defender who was one of the top rated defenders in europe, who by complete and utter uselessness we have wasted a year of his life and haulted his career.
If it was a structured criticisim of collocini fair play, but this witch hunt style, oh hes just crap and OMG hes on a good wage what a waster!! attitude stinks.
just like the xisco witch hunt which has been going on for months now also.
i dont know if Ed is out of touch with what i seem to see hear and take on board with reality, but articles such as these which are most likely based on a supposed comment and wikipedia are just crazy.