News in the Sunday Sun today that Newcastle will soon be signing Romain Amalfitano, who will pen a three-year deal with the club in the next few weeks.
Romain Amalfitano – Stade Reims attacking midfielder
We had reported the breaking news on the 22 year-old Stade Reims attacking midfielder last Thursday.
And it seems the local Sunday paper are validating the fact that Newcastle will indeed sign the lad to a pre-contract three year deal in the next few weeks.
And it ill be very similar to the deal that saw Mehdi Abeid arrive on Tyneside last summer, as he was also a free agent and was singed to a pre-contract deal early last year.
All deals will be officially signed on July 1st but essentially players are signed up to these pre-contract deals long before then, and we expect Newcastle to sign up quite a few players early in the summer transfer window.
We have a feeling that Chief Scout Graham Carr has been busy scouting various Newcastle targets, and we think a lot of work was done in January to get players tied up in the summer, and it should be another exciting transfer window for Newcastle fans to follow.
We hope so anyway.
We just hope the bubble hasn’t burst on Tyneside, with the last couple of league results being so disappointing for Newcastle fans for different reasons.
The news on Amalfitano is that the club have been watching him for several months and he is a low risk acqusition since he is a free transfer and his wages will be low.
The 22-year-old plays for Stade Reims in the French second division and he is the younger brother of Morgan, who plays for Olympique Marseilles.
Amalfitano is 5’9″ tall and was born in Nice, and he’s an attacking right-footed midfielder, who started his career at French club Evian, before moving to Reims in 2010, on a two year contract.
We have also recently been linked with another attacking midfielder – 24 year old Dijon midfielder Benjamin Corgnet – shown above.
And his manager at Dijon has said Newcastle offered £4.5M for him last month, but they turned the offer down, because they want to keep him until the summer.
The midfielder moved to Dijon after being spotted playing for amateur club Monts d’Or Azergues in the Championnat de France amateur 2, which is the fifth division of French football, so it will be quite a rapid rise in class if Newcastle sign this player – especially if the fee is £4.5M.
Maybe the interest in these attacking midfielders means that Newcastle will be letting Danny Guthrie move on in the summer when his four year contract runs out at Newcastle?
Comments welcome.
8 comments so far
chris_g
Feb 26, 2012 at 6:01 AM
Comment #1“And it seems the local Sunday paper are validating the fact that Newcastle will indeed sign the lad to a pre-contract three year deal in the next few weeks.”
No Ed, they’re not validating anything. They’re just copying the same story that everybody else has reported. It’s no different to what you do on this blog.
innoculator
Feb 26, 2012 at 6:30 AM
Comment #2I don’t know why I read this blog.
Even less the comments.
Fair play to Ed Harrison, he’s a fan with a platform. Every fan with a similar utility would do the same.
But to see (fans) on here, criticizing, whining, it turns my stomach. This is a fans’ blog. A medium of support. So let’s do that. Give your opinion, respect that of others, and leave it at that.
The ‘Shola bashing’ crew. Its fine. We don’t all love him. But some do. The Ben Arfa brigade. Again, discuss, but don’t eulogize, and don’t dismiss (a discussion I really want in on, for the record).
We’re all here (I hope) to read, discuss, love and support Newcastle United. Something more important to all of us than it should be (I mean, its football, right?). So lets do just that.
And maybe I’ll post more often now I’ve remembered my password. Hopefully in the spirit I’d like to see. Ed too.
My God I’m drunk.
And, of course, most importantly, HWTL
NEWEXPATMAGPIE
Feb 26, 2012 at 9:48 AM
Comment #3@ 2: With you on this! Suprised to see you make so much sense if your plastered!
Is this lad any good whom we are supposed to be signing?
NEWEXPATMAGPIE
Feb 26, 2012 at 9:49 AM
Comment #4@2: Are you drunk at 06:30 in the morning?
A party animal!
Rotonda heights
Feb 26, 2012 at 10:24 AM
Comment #5innoculator
Do one then, it’s a forum, exchange of views or do we all have to agree with you.
stuart no9
Feb 26, 2012 at 10:39 AM
Comment #6off topic – does the football we are watching remind you a bit of the big sam era,? only his was a bit better,. at least we would have won yesterday, ugly or not.
Antti
Feb 26, 2012 at 5:02 PM
Comment #7Is this player good enough? Last few games he’s been on the subs bench for Stade de Reims.
NEWEXPATMAGPIE
Feb 27, 2012 at 2:37 PM
Comment #8@7:
At age 22! and an attacking midfielder! He fits the bill on what we need!
Hopefully he,s been scouted by Carr, Beardo and Co !
If they say he,s good then we,ll just have to trust them~!