Reports in Sky Sports today that say that Newcastle are trying to sign Albin Ebondo from Toulouse – once again.
Albin Ebondo – Newcastle to try again
The Newcastle club thought they had signed the Toulouse right-back in January of 2009, but Toulouse kept putting the price up – as you may recall.
But now the player is a free agent in the summer, and Newcastle will make another attempt to buy the player. West Brom and Stoke City are also said to be keeping close tabs on the player.
Joe Kinnear was frustrated when the club failed to wrap up the signing of the player 16 months ago and this is what Joe said at that time:
“I’m disappointed at how things went having had (secretary) Lee Charnley and Dennis Wise over there for two days.”
“We agreed the terms before he left, which were £2.5M. When we got there they upped it to £3m. We agreed to that, then they upped it again.”
“We thought it was done and dusted, and at the very last minute they moved the goalposts to £6M. Lee and Dennis said no, and got on the next plane home.”
“It was a wasted journey, to be honest. It wasn’t the best way to act considering the deal was done prior to them going over.”
The 5’11” Albin has played 181 times at Toulouse – his only club – and has scored 3 goals. Ebondo turned 26 last February and was born in Marseille, France and is of Congolese heritage.
So he just about fits the profile of players Newcastle are after, and he will give Danny Simpson considerable competition for the right back position next season, and we think he would be a great signing and comes at a good price too.
Comments welcome.
11 comments so far
Newutd
May 20, 2010 at 12:03 PM
Comment #1Sign him up.
G
May 20, 2010 at 12:08 PM
Comment #2I don’t know what the player is like, but that’s a seriously funky purple shirt they wear.
lesh
May 20, 2010 at 12:11 PM
Comment #3Well, well.
JFK thought it was done and dusted, and at the very last minute they moved the goalposts to £6M.
It’s no surprise Toulouse upped the price a few times – they’d probably got wind of what Dennis the Menace had paid for Xisco et al!!!
Toon_Army
May 20, 2010 at 12:14 PM
Comment #4That is a funky shirt…
I think he will jump at the chance to sign for us!!! Just think about it, he no longer has to dress up like Coco the Clown to play his Footie!!!
Probably old news being dragged up again though, hard to believe we did not sign him in January and Can’t see Hughton having the same transfer targets as JFK…
Newutd
May 20, 2010 at 12:19 PM
Comment #5Well, he is on free transfer, which is a market Hughton definitely have checked.
Aza9
May 20, 2010 at 12:20 PM
Comment #6Apparently after this guys aswell…
http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11678_6163738,00.html
Could be good competition for Enrique.
JMC
May 20, 2010 at 12:21 PM
Comment #7@Toon Army
Not coco the clown but benji the banana instead! haha
Mags
May 20, 2010 at 1:14 PM
Comment #8ED
Why do we have to buy him if he is a free agent in the summer?
fongct
May 20, 2010 at 1:16 PM
Comment #9havnt watched him played before, so not sure he is a great signing
might worth a gamble
countrylad14
May 20, 2010 at 3:27 PM
Comment #10i think he would be a canny signing and bring competition for simpson aswel. Hopefully it will bring simpson on as a player aswel because as much as he has done well for us this season he still has a bit to learn.
@toon_army
you say he wont have to dress up as a clown to play his football next season if he signs for us but we betta just wait and see what puma has lined up for us first lol 🙂
G
May 20, 2010 at 3:48 PM
Comment #11Does anybody else on the thread look at that picture and suddenly remember the theme music from ‘Dream Team’ on Sky?