Chirs Hughton, the Newcastle manager has used 24 year-old Xisco in three of the pre-season friendlies so far, and the Spanish striker may get another chance at Ibrox tomorrow.
Xisco – may get another chance tomorrow
But Chris Hughton still admits it will be tough for the £5.7M buy from Deportivo two years ago, to force his way up the pecking order of strikers at the club.
Chris told the Evening Chronicle today:
“We have good options in the forward area.” “We’ve got Andy Carroll, Peter Lovenkrands, Shola Ameobi, Leon Best and Nile Ranger.”
“We have a lot of options, and I have to work around those options. These are decisions we have to make.”
“It’s been a difficult time for Xisco. He went on loan, so he was able to play regular football, which is what he needed.”
That doesn’t sound too good for Xisco, and we have to think that Chris is looking to send him out on loan next season, unless he can get a fair price for him in a straight transfer, which is unlikely at this stage.
But Xisco can, and is, doing himself some good by looking good in pre-season, and that will not have gone unnoticed by some clubs.
Xisco spent last season on loan with La Liga club Racing Santander, where he appeared 23 times and scored 3 goals, but it could also be that Xisco will be at Newcastle at least through January.
We’d love to see Xisco make a success of things on Tyneside, and from some comments we have seen on the blog, we’re not the only ones who would like to see this very positive young man become a success at the Newcastle club.
Comments very welcome.
20 comments so far
Toon XI
Aug 6, 2010 at 12:31 PM
Comment #1He has my backing. I hope he comes good for his sake.
howay man
Aug 6, 2010 at 12:37 PM
Comment #2the boy has definitley got talent but I cant see where he fits in this season.
geordiejim
Aug 6, 2010 at 12:46 PM
Comment #3I can’t understand the apparent support for Xisco.
Last year he feigned injury to get a move away from the club. And while he was here before that he was always out on the hoy in town.
In my view, he’s got a very poor attitude and doesn’t have his heart in playing for our team.
Lest we all forget, we had too many players of similar ilk last time we were in the premier league, and look what happened there….
last season we rooted out these bad eggs and developed a strong team spirit that, to be honest, we’re going to rely on heavily this season. I wonder what the Smiths, Nolans, and Bartons think about him trying to pick and choose when he plays for our team….
MacToon
Aug 6, 2010 at 12:51 PM
Comment #4What position did Xisco play for Racing Santander, anyone know, did anyone watch him and I mean more than watchin youtube clips 😉
NUFC_Richyg01
Aug 6, 2010 at 12:59 PM
Comment #5I think we need to forget about the ordeal last season with the lad.
He was in a bad place and was the target of a lot of blame for the KK/DW/MA saga.
He is being given a chance to repay us and we have to give him a crack at it, in the end its up to him what happens from here on in.
I say good luck to him TBH because its for the good of the team.
Toontastico
Aug 6, 2010 at 1:01 PM
Comment #6Bang on Geordie Jim – get rid of this lad ASAP – his actions can never be forgot and his (reported) £50k a week wages are a joke. He’s done nowt to suggest he’ll be anything but shite and did fook all at Racing last year either, being used as a sub most of the time.
MacT he was playing upfront for Racing
slazberger
Aug 6, 2010 at 1:13 PM
Comment #7geordiejim the support for xisco is simple, he is a newcastle player
Obafan
Aug 6, 2010 at 1:18 PM
Comment #8So if we read CH ‘s words carefully => there will be no strikers coming to the club, cause he thinks he has got enough of them from the right quality.
cgrizzly87
Aug 6, 2010 at 1:20 PM
Comment #9he played upfront, was average. To be fair the whole Racing team was pretty poor last year which partly explains why Xisco looked overwhelmed all the time!
xfer
Aug 6, 2010 at 1:28 PM
Comment #10I hope he gets a chance. He is having a decent pre-season out of position! He cant do worse than Shola in the PL.
geordiejim
Aug 6, 2010 at 1:35 PM
Comment #11slazberger – my point is that it would appear that Xisco is a newcastle player when he feels like it (and when no-one else wants him?) and that because we have pride in our team we shouldn’t all be pandering to him and supporting him unconditionally.
He faked injury rather than stay and fight for his place (which was there for the taking) and prove his worth to his team mates and the fans when everyone found themselves in a tough situation but did have a fresh start to put things right.
Given that we appear to be stuck with him we have little choice but to get behind him if he plays, but we can all only hope he doesn’t stay true to form and have a detrimental affect on team morale, especially if and when the going gets tough this season.
lesh
Aug 6, 2010 at 1:38 PM
Comment #12Obafan // Aug 6, 2010 at 1:18 PM
So if we read CH ‘s words carefully => there will be no strikers coming to the club, cause he thinks he has got enough of them from the right quality.
Oba. That’ what I read into his return to the club. There’ll be no striker coming in unless one goes!
lesh
Aug 6, 2010 at 1:43 PM
Comment #13And as for last season and Xisco…. just forget it, the lad was a victim in an awful situation hae didn’t create.
Give him a chance and support him, and any player, as long as there’s a NUFC strip on their back.
lostmonk
Aug 6, 2010 at 1:45 PM
Comment #14@geordiejim
I completely disagree. He tried to get away from a place where he was being referred to as the reason KK was gone and we got relegated. The huge amounts of bad press and vitriol poured on him by the fans, especially when a young player, he reacted in an inappropriate manner to get out of a horrible situation. The people truly to fault for that, are the ones that blamed the poor kid for anything in the first place. I for one hope he develops into a world class talent, because he would have much love for the club that stuck by him, when it really didn’t have to.
NUFC_Richyg01
Aug 6, 2010 at 2:28 PM
Comment #15Manure are keeping Cleverley now
http://www.teamtalk.com/newcastle-united/6297738/United-boss-holds-on-to-Cleverley
bill
Aug 6, 2010 at 3:52 PM
Comment #16Xisco is crap. The only reason he is still with us is because we cannot get rid of him without paying someone to take him away. This might be the best plan.
Freddie
Aug 6, 2010 at 4:32 PM
Comment #17@ slazberger
your right, if there at our club, then they should get our backing! wish more of our fans felt like us
davybtoon
Aug 6, 2010 at 6:49 PM
Comment #18Xisco deserves a chance n has done well on the wing n I wud keep using him there we need to wingers, convert xisco to one n then we jus need one winger he’s done very well there
JohnNUFC
Aug 6, 2010 at 11:02 PM
Comment #19Last time I checked it took a little bit of talent to be a spanish u-21 international!
But still maybe we shouldn’t lay off and not give him a chance ‘cos it’s not we had any other spanish u-21’s at the club who started off slow and matured now is it?
Put yourself in his position when the whole ashley thing came to a head…..you arrive to a foreign country with your bags packed expecting a welcome when you actually get a riot outside the stadium which a lot of people thought you’re partly to blame for!! I think I’d have headed for the hills too!!
Give him a chance he’ll come good!
Brutooon
Aug 7, 2010 at 7:01 AM
Comment #20Below Average Player
50k in wages (wtf?)
Other clubs won’t spend 5 million to buy him from us
He wont go to other club (cos he would get lower wages)
He will stay with us (enjoying the free and high wages) until his contract expired