Newcastle have had their first offer for Watford center-back Adrian Mariappa turned down.
Adrian Mariappa – will Newcastle increase their bid?
The powers that be at Newcastle are now considering whether to mount an improved offer for Mariappa, and Derek LLambias and Secretary Lee Charnley will be in touch with Alan Pardew in the Canary Islands.
Newcastle had a £2M offer turned down yesterday for the Watford center-back, although in some reports that amount is said to be £3M.
Its seems that Swansea may also be interested in the player and former Sunderland center-back Nyron Nosworthy has now been signed permanently by Watford this month.
Watford manager Sean Dyche has said the Norsworthy has not been signed, so they can now let Mariappa leave:
“No, absolutely not,” “We are not expecting to sell any of our best players in this window.”
“Obviously Cristiano Ronaldo was sold by Manchester United because someone met the asking price.”
“So everyone has a price, but we do not have a remit to sell any of our players.”
“We want to keep hold of all our good players.”
But Newcastle will not overpay for Mariappa, and if Watford have priced him too high, say at £4M, then he will simply not be coming to Tyneside.
But Newcastle must bring in a center-back in the next week, and if they are going to pay around £3M for Mariappa, there are other center-backs like Montpelier’s 22 year-old Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa who are worth just a little more than that.
The Frenchman can also play anywhere across the back four, whereas Mariappa is a center-back and is only being brought in as cover for Coloccini and Williamson.
It could be a tricky situation for Newcastle, since they must bring in another center-back before next Wednesday, but they will simply not overpay.
So we wonder if they cannot get the Watford vice-captain into the club, what’s their plan B?
A loan deal would be a decent option, but the player coming in will hardly play, because Williamson and Coloccini will likely remain the first choice center-backs.
If Newcastle are only after cover, why not go after Liam Ridgewell of Birmingham, who has played over 250 games in the Premier League, and can also play at left back?
Liam is good enough to be a squad player at Newcastle and he already has Premier League experience.
What do you think the other options are for Newcastle if Mariappa proves to be too expensive?
Comments welcome.
247 comments so far
Beattie25
Jan 24, 2012 at 10:55 PM
Comment #241I think we should organize a flash mob onto the Sunderland board.
We all sign up for accounts, choose a time (say midday) and then bomb the board with insults!
Whose with me?
GeordieToon89
Jan 24, 2012 at 11:02 PM
Comment #242Beattie – As good as that sounds, we cant allow ourselves to stoop down to there level mate ha
Tsunki
Jan 24, 2012 at 11:02 PM
Comment #243Beattie – that’s dedication fella! However I see a flaw in your plan. They insult each other pretty bad by the looks – they may not notice us. They are easy targets though, I mean, I love how their erstwhile deadbeats are now worth anywhere between 12-30 million.
Jail for Ashley
Jan 24, 2012 at 11:09 PM
Comment #244I would just love it,love it if we bought a decent CB in the next few days.
ADAM-NUFC
Jan 24, 2012 at 11:12 PM
Comment #245Lee Ryder @lee_ryder
“All those asking about Zaha , have been reporting #nufc interest since October, watch this space”
hmm wonder what this is ment to mean?
watched him tonight and thought he was decent, needs to work on his end product and shooting though.
GeordieToon89
Jan 24, 2012 at 11:12 PM
Comment #246Bloooody helll never realised Dempsey has scored 15 goals this season
ToonIcon
Jan 24, 2012 at 11:13 PM
Comment #247i think the smog monster maclaren at twente will accept £3 mill for douglas now rather than lose him for free in the summer