News today that Newcastle are interested in Barnsley’s midfielder Jacob Butterfield, who is an England U21 International.
Jacob Butterfield – 21 year-old Barnsley midfielder
The Newcastle Journal is reporting this morning that John Carver was at Oakwell on Saturday afternoon, to watch Butterfield play.
The 21 year-old is out of contract at the end of the season adn will become a free agent.
Newcastle may not sign more than one player in January, but we have to remember there will be a lot of checks and planning this month to help identify which players we will go after in the summer.
So some of these reports in January could turn out to be simply identifying summer targets.
But the youngster lasted only 15 minutes on Saturday before picking up a knee injury, but that didn’t stop Barnsley from going on to beat Leeds United 4-1, and they are 16th in the Championship on 33 points.
The Bradford-born youngster fits exactly the type of player Newcastle are trying to recruit, he is young and can improve, but he will now be out at least three weeks with ligament damage.
We’ll keep this lad under review as he comes cheap in the summer as a free agent – if he is good enough for Newcastle.
Butterfield made his debut for Barnsley when he was just 17 and that was in a League Cup tie against Newcastle United in August of 2007, coming on as a substitute in the 2–0 defeat.
The lad is ambitious and he knows that Newcastle, Everton, Stoke and Wolves are interested in him, and he had this to say last week:
“I have always thought I was good enough to play at Premier League level.” “Given the opportunity, I think I could prove that.”
Butterfield is the Barnsley captain and at 21 years of age, he is the youngest ever captain in Barnsley’s long history, since the were founded in 1887 – only just before my time.
If Newcastle are really interested in this player they could get him during the January window for a small fee, and that could happen.
But with him now being out injured that could complicate matters, unless the club have already watched him enough times to know he’s good enough to come to Newcastle.
Since making his debut back in 2007, Jacob has appeared 90 times for Barnsley with 57 starts and 8 goals.
And Jacob got an England U21 call-up for the European Championship Qualification double-header against Iceland and Belgium last November, the same games that Sammy Ameobi played in.
Here’s a goal Jacob scored in training with the England U21 game for those games:
We’ll have to wait and see if Newcastle sign this lad this month – or in the summer.
Comments welcome.
10 comments so far
Graeme
Jan 3, 2012 at 9:14 AM
Comment #1This sounds perfectly logical for us.
We need at least one Defender NOW – actually we needed him 6 months ago, but lets not split hairs!! We have also needed a Striker for over a year.
Yes, scouting midfielders, the one area we have players coming out of our ears, is just about right for NUFC lol.
cyprus
Jan 3, 2012 at 9:19 AM
Comment #290 appearances 8 goals Ed? Why that’s more prolific than Shola! 🙂
Anyway, liked what Cabaye said about going for a win. It’s the only way to go about it or else we will get hammered. Don’t know how Rooney will react after his ‘hammering’ by Fergie, I think if things don’t work out early for him he’ll be frustrated, crowd will get to him and he will be carded. The real dangerman right now is Berbatov, who really can score (even while on the bench!!). Hoping for a tight 2-1, since now the chasing pack (which was miles away) is on our tail.
Eyeball81
Jan 3, 2012 at 9:25 AM
Comment #3Dunno if this has been discussed already but this is big news….
According to Ipswich website Alan Smith is in talks after his Contract with Toon was cancelled by mutual consent.
Eyeball81
Jan 3, 2012 at 9:26 AM
Comment #4http://www.ipswich.vitalfootball.co.uk/article.asp?a=267675
Dunno how true it is as theres nothing on the NUFC.co.uk website
Tsunki
Jan 3, 2012 at 9:37 AM
Comment #5Yep smudge looks very much like he’s got his packed lunch and on the national express as we speak. Well,there’s some wages for somebody, eh?
On the subject of this barnsley lad – if we really want him will we wait until summer to get him? And if we get him now with a crocked knee what does that say about the Maiga debacle?
jayphoto
Jan 3, 2012 at 10:02 AM
Comment #6Tsunki – it says Butterfield would be available for about 500k – 1.5m – with wages of about 8k a week – whereas Maiga was 6.5m, probs an agent fee of another 1m, with wages of 40k a week! Pretty simple, the club arent willing to risk paying much for risky players!
BillBurch
Jan 3, 2012 at 10:20 AM
Comment #7The defeat at Liverpool proves that we cannot compete with the top six clubs. We are losing points and the “pack” is closing in! (Three more wins for Sunderland will bring them level with us if we continue losing to teams we should be beating!) It’s about time that the Ashley/Llambias combo stopped using NUFC as a footballing “brokerage” by selling our best players as soon as they show their skills and their value increases. When other clubs value some of our players highly we should keep them and add to their number so we can compete at the top! It seems that as soon as we look like we’re getting somewhere Ashley/Llambias pull the rug from under us and we have to start again! Doesn’t Ashley realise that Man U sells loads of merchandise around the world because they are winners who can compete at the highest level because they go after and retain the best players to maintain their reputation?
martoon
Jan 3, 2012 at 10:28 AM
Comment #8Looks like John Carver is a bit of a Jonah when it comes to scouting. Last time the lad he went to watch was suspended and this time he got injured after 15 mins. Maybe he should leave scouting to Carr in future! 😉
Sav
Jan 3, 2012 at 11:30 AM
Comment #9Are they going to feed us these stories now Llambias is back until we are over the Jan window and no-one is brought over the threshold?
I read he is now ‘braced for tough negotiatons’ after his little xmas break. I doubt he could brace himself to pull crackers.
Its easy to drive a hard bargain if you’re not really bothered if you buy or not.
toonpete
Jan 3, 2012 at 11:16 PM
Comment #10As a newcastle fan living in barnsley,i have seen this lad play a few times.This lad will go far, shaping up to be a special player, would be really smart purchase.