Newcastle have done very well in the last two transfer windows, but like everything, that’s because of good and thorough planning.
Graham Carr – Newcastle Chief Scout
Mike Ashley was at the Benton training grounds on Thursday and one of meetings he held, the top priority meeting according to today’s Sunday Sun, was on transfers.
And it seems Mike wants to concentrate on this summer’s and next January’s window together.
As usual he has asked that a list of players be drawn up that are either out of contract or available in the summer, and Blackburn’s Canadian Junior Hoilett is apparently one of the names on the list.
Although the news last week was that the 21 year-old was being linked heavily with Bayern Munich, whom he would join as a free agent in the summer.
The Newcastle scouts have been in full swing on targets for the last six months, and that seemed obvious when Newcastle held a meeting in Paris last month with a number of top agents, and it wasn’t related to the January transfer window either.
There has already been a lot of planing and work done for the upcoming summer window, when Newcastle hope to bring in the following – according to the Sunday Sun:
- A new central defender
- A central midfielder
- A new goalkeeper
- A young striker
It’s clear we need a new central defender, and yesterday showed that we are short of another good central midfield player to back up Yohan Cabaye, Cheick Tiote and Danny Guthrie.
We also hope the club can bring in another full-back, and of course they may be forced to do that in any case, if Simpson refuses to sign a new deal.
We are almost certain that Steve Harper will leave Newcastle this summer, after 19 years at the club, because he doesn’t even get a place on the bench these days, with Rob Elliot the one backing up Tim Krul.
And it also seems clear that Fraser Forster will be sold in the summer.
And Newcastle will be on the look-out for a young striker, as it seems that Peter Lovenkrands and Nile Ranger will be leaving in the summer.
And we think Newcastle will in addition bring in a number of young players (like Mehdi Abeid as the example), who will not immediately be first team starters, but will be top young players anywhere from 19 to 21 years of age.
And in addition to all that, it seems that Alan Pardew’s initiative of improving the Newcastle Youth Academy has been backed by Ashley to the tune of £15M.
The club will concentrate on getting better young players into the Academy, and we’ll also see some of them coming in during the summer months.
As many as 12 of the Newcastle youngsters will be allowed to leave in the summer, and they are already looking around to get new clubs.
So it’s clear that a lot of good planning is going on at Newcastle, and Chief Scout Graham Carr and his staff have already been checking on summer targets.
We feel that the summer transfer window will be a good one again for Newcastle, as the club strives to improve the playing staff across the board.
That sounds good.
Comments always welcome.
208 comments so far
gorgonzola
Feb 12, 2012 at 11:30 AM
Comment #1A new central defender
A central midfielder
A new goalkeeper
A young striker
WHAT?
a CM?
a striker?
I think as of this moment more crucial to all of this is a RB, RW/LW and CB role and splash most of the cash there in all honesty not stop gap players enough…
MagpiesFlyHigh
Feb 12, 2012 at 11:34 AM
Comment #2gorgonzola
a whole new back four – all positions need improvement
two strikers – 3rd and 4th choice
improved DCM backup
good way of describing yesterdays team – ‘stop gap players’ – spot on
JackButler
Feb 12, 2012 at 11:38 AM
Comment #3Tavernier has not been released, expected to be offered a new deal
spitfire_
Feb 12, 2012 at 11:38 AM
Comment #4A young PROSPECT striker is a kind of need…. not another spanish misunderstanding. Apart two Demba’s we have… shite. Two new central defenders – Willo and Kadar out. CM is not needed… when Cheik and Cabaye are back we can play 3-7-0 if we want. A versatile wing back are need… badly badly badly… and the young CB who can play also like wing back.
gorgonzola
Feb 12, 2012 at 11:39 AM
Comment #5lets look it at logically
so far this season Jonas, Obertan where not up to the standard as wingers. Sorry to say for me Jonas has fallen in form Obertan is what you get. a quality of winger if it has to be Hoillett a diver so be it. We need a winger either LW or RW that can run at players and challenge them pass them deliver to the box Jonas needs some serious competition Marveux is ONE player but of whim we saw very little. What if he gets injured again?
Its plain as day to see we need an out and out fast passed quality winger, Bale, Walcott, Valencia, etc
CB a quality PACE oriented CB dont have to comment on that one.
CM we have 3 superb players Guthrie, Cabaye, Tiote, that can be filled with R Taylor, Jonas. CM is not really a primary worry surely….
Striker is needed but since we have 2 real quality ones not that URGENT. if we play 3 up front with 2 wingers
JackButler
Feb 12, 2012 at 11:41 AM
Comment #6For a young striker I’d like Phillips of Blackpool or Jordan Rhodes
Wor Shearer
Feb 12, 2012 at 11:44 AM
Comment #7The Sun don’t have a clue.
A CM?? surely they mean a Winger? unless they know more than we do…..are we selling someone?
gorgonzola
Feb 12, 2012 at 11:44 AM
Comment #8Wor Shearer
Exactly….
gorgonzola
Feb 12, 2012 at 11:45 AM
Comment #9My new years resolution for the club is not to Play Strolla again. I hope and pray…
Wor Shearer
Feb 12, 2012 at 11:45 AM
Comment #10btw, is Guthrie allowed to negotiate with other clubs now?
His contract finishes in the summer and the January window is closed?
unclepauly
Feb 12, 2012 at 11:48 AM
Comment #11i cant believe there was no mention of new wingers in ed’s article. we are so weak in this department. alan pardew made a good remark a while back and said that since sylvain marvellous has been out, jonas’s form has dipped, and this is because with marvellous on the bench it was a kick up the backside for jonas. now with no competition for the left wing spot (fergie ?) jonas is not playing great.
as for right wing – obertan has had long enough now and im sorry but not good enough. for me HBA should start right wing but AP will not do this it seems.
yes we need to improve ALL areas of our team – but isnt this the same for all teams who are not in the top 3/4 ? lets not forget how great we are doing compared to our expectations and lets not get too worried over one dismal performance.
HWTL !
solano
Feb 12, 2012 at 11:48 AM
Comment #12Re: pic. Is Graham Carr morphing into wine impressario Oz Clark?
jayphoto
Feb 12, 2012 at 11:48 AM
Comment #13Rumour in France is we’re heavily in for midfielder corgnet! Rated about 5-7m! Wouldn’t be shocked if we took both of the palace lads clyne and zaha too! My bet for the summer is clyne, Tomkins, corgnet, zaha and knockaert! Can see HBA going, most people will blame pards but I blame HBA, hes been a poir trainer and woefully inconsistent throughout his career! Was at Lyon and Marseille! When he’s good hes amazing but when he’s not…… There’s a reason sumone of his amazing talent cost 5m and had no champions league offers
gorgonzola
Feb 12, 2012 at 11:49 AM
Comment #14Team next year
KRUL
SANTON CB/Saylor Colo LB(Santon)
RW(HBA if he is still here wich i very much so doubt) Cabaye Tiote Marveaux Jonas (RW capable of playing LW)
HBA (if here as CAM)
Cisse BA ST
Diggedydaws
Feb 12, 2012 at 11:50 AM
Comment #15@ gorgonzola,
And of course these Walcotss and Valencias grow on trees…we have a blueprint, can’t see us splashing the money that was paid for either of those tbh.
We’ll continue to try and unearth new talentand the reason we need a CM is probs cause Tiote is on his way out!
With a full squad, as it is I mean, I really do think we are the 5th or 6th best club in the league.
gorgonzola
Feb 12, 2012 at 11:52 AM
Comment #16jayphoto
I tend to disagree.. HBA has not been manged and player right. Sorry to say I wonder how Keegan would behave in Pardews spot with HBA….
gorgonzola
Feb 12, 2012 at 11:57 AM
Comment #17And of course these Walcotss and Valencias grow on trees
No but there is Jesus Navas (sevilla is struggling this year, Gaitan, Hoillett, Zaha,even Dos Santos I dunno there are players if one is willing to pay for em…and we need a Quality RW/LW and we are not emulating a Ginola or Robert any time soon…
GeordieGesus
Feb 12, 2012 at 11:58 AM
Comment #18gorgonzola, under Keegan we wouldn’t have HBA. To cheap.
FatmanJoe
Feb 12, 2012 at 12:00 PM
Comment #19I’m in Malaysia at the moment and stayed up late last night to watch our humiliation… very clear there is investment needed. Our starting lineup is excellent when everyone fit but our bench needs improvement and this might mean some young players starting to step up to the plate. I think in the summer there will be close to ten fringe players moving out and maybe 5 quality players coming in. I hope. Our spine is fine but a couple of full backs and wingers needed desperately!
geoff777
Feb 12, 2012 at 12:00 PM
Comment #20Simpson, Willo, Obertan, Guthrie, Perch, Best Ameobi … they all cost peanuts.
I’m sure Pardew would like to replace most of them with better players but that will cost a fortune.
If you want to do it by the start of next season … sell Krul and Tiote.
I don’t want to do that.
I’d like to see us improve the squad in one or two key areas each window.
It may take three seasons to replace our 1M players with 5-6M players.
Until then I can’t see the point in all this “blaming”.
Most of our players are playing to a standard well above their transfer fees. Willo cost 1M . Simmo 500k
The squad is set until the end of the season.
Support the lads, even (especially) in defeat.
HWTL
gorgonzola
Feb 12, 2012 at 12:01 PM
Comment #21GG..
common lad…..thats just not fair….I know what he wanted when he came here, and it wasn’t realistic but still…
gorgonzola
Feb 12, 2012 at 12:02 PM
Comment #22Geoff 777
agreed
but then there is BA 🙂 I know what you meant but I am just saying 🙂
macsmax
Feb 12, 2012 at 12:03 PM
Comment #23Gorgonzola, if Keegan was here he would have Spat his dummy out and resigned again…
geoff777
Feb 12, 2012 at 12:06 PM
Comment #24RIP Whitney – Another diva gone …
shpetmeister
Feb 12, 2012 at 12:07 PM
Comment #25The closest a player that can near Lionel Messi is Ben Harfa, and still he dosent play for Newcastle!! I dont give a shit if he dosent run back to help in the deffence, just play him and 89% of Newcastle fans are Happy! Even do we loose !
geoff777
Feb 12, 2012 at 12:10 PM
Comment #26@gorgonzola
Yes I know but nobody is bitching like girls about Ba …
jayphoto
Feb 12, 2012 at 12:10 PM
Comment #27Gorgonzola was he mismanaged by his lyon and Marseille coaches too? By all his French youth coaches? Ben arfa even said himself, the only manager to understand me is Raymond dommenech…… Is this the kinda manager u want? HBA would be in the team under Keegan because we had hard working players that played for the team! Ginola had far better decision making to HBA and knew when to pass!
WWJBD
Feb 12, 2012 at 12:11 PM
Comment #28Contracts waiting until summer is very worrying
Darling27
Feb 12, 2012 at 12:12 PM
Comment #29We’ll be pushing for Hoilett.
jayphoto
Feb 12, 2012 at 12:13 PM
Comment #30Did sumone just say Ben arfa is the nearest thing to messi? Geeeeez! UV either never seen Ben arfa play or messi! Messi is possibly the greatest footballer of all time, Ben arfa is nowhere near his class!
MagpiesFlyHigh
Feb 12, 2012 at 12:19 PM
Comment #31The defence is missing Saylor and Tiote big time. Our goals against is looking pretty dire.
Since the Chelsea game we’ve shipped
4 at Norwich
3 at Liverpool
5 at Fulham
5 at Spurs
Top 4 sides usually compete at the level of losing by the odd goal – not allowing 2,3,4,5 in one match on a regular basis. Okay Arse and Manure have had big losses – but not on a regular basis like us or wining it against poor sides like Blackburn.
.
We need to spend serious money on the back 4 and another quality DCM in addition to the reasonable quality players we have got now – Colo is lost without Saylor, and none of the rest have enough class to keep their concentration week in week out and not meltdown every few games. They don’t have Saylors commitment – and it did rub off. IMO he should have been first choice Cap. Basically we still have such major weaknesses at the back we’ll not get above 6-7th and the first 12 matches show how poor the squad players are up against any teams with good attacking players. (including such as Grant Holt)
A lot of bloggers have been saying all season esp after QPR overran us, how we should be playing 4-5-1 away from home. Agreed but if we only have average squad players we’ll still get overrun on a regular basis.
Quality does cost money and bargain basement players won’t always turn out to be good value or good enough. It’s a percentage game. Good scouting is there to identify the right players – not necessarily to allow us to always buy cheap. Four £5-6m defenders would be good value in the summer. God knows we need them.
geoff777
Feb 12, 2012 at 12:20 PM
Comment #32Now the 35M and Virgin sponsorship money for this year has been spent.
How much will Llambias give Pardew to spend each window so we break even?
6M Tops? + any player sales – (agents fees, bungs and Monaco investments).
so sell Simmo 2M buy Pieters 5-6M a couple of frees and thats it until next January …
MagpiesFlyHigh
Feb 12, 2012 at 12:22 PM
Comment #33* winging it
cjcox88
Feb 12, 2012 at 12:23 PM
Comment #34Absolutely disgusted by some of the comments I have seen today. You would never have thought we were 1 point behind Chelsea. Get some perspective people. Who would have though we would beat Manchester United 3-0 after we did that we weren’t the best team in the league and this result doesn’t make us the worst. Support the lads, the idea that Danny Simpson is suddenly rubbish is ludicrous, what about his 3 goal-line clearances that have earned us draws or wins? Get over it, a bad result, we still are in a brilliant position and everyone but Arsenal also missed out! We have some easier games coming up with Cabaye and Tiote back which will help massively and we will get back on track. Stop jumping on people’s backs
cjcox88
Feb 12, 2012 at 12:25 PM
Comment #35Also, to question Colo is literally the most moronic thing I have heard for a while. He has been a brilliant captain and one of the stand-out cbs in the league this year, so stop criticism him
shearermania
Feb 12, 2012 at 12:29 PM
Comment #36it was just a game….to be honest their first 3 chances went in…so from then it wasnt to be…
we were slack in position especially in midfield but hell its just 1 game…both the yids and manure had 5 goals put in behind them earlier..
we will be fine….a top 7 would be amazing…
dont loose focus……you win some and you loose some
BenArfa-Legend10
Feb 12, 2012 at 12:29 PM
Comment #37New Centre back – Douglas
New Centre mid – ??????
New Goalkeeper – Scott Loach/Michell Vorm
New young striker – Wilfried Zaha
They forgot a new winger – Junior Hoilett
ToonDownSouth
Feb 12, 2012 at 12:31 PM
Comment #38WWJBD
It’s worrying because we all know exactly what that means…
WWJBD
Feb 12, 2012 at 12:31 PM
Comment #39We wont get Vorm unless we sell Krul. He wont leave Swansea to sit on our bench
WWJBD
Feb 12, 2012 at 12:33 PM
Comment #40TDS
That they all want to sign up together on the same day? Yeah not likely is it
Reminds me of the El Toro contract situation tbh