The Sun is reporting today that Newcastle are after German Pezzella, who currently plays for River Plate in the Argentine league and is only 21 years old.
German Pezzella – top Argentine youngster
We would expect Newcastle to bring in a younger center-back to fortify the central defense at Newcastle, and on that front German seems to fit the bill well, and he has played a massive 26 times for the Argentine U20 side.
The 6′ tall Bahía Blanca, Argentina born player is said to be nearing a call-up for the Argentine full national side, and if Newcastle bring him to Tyneside, he will be given time to acclimatize to the English Premier League, and would be one for the future.
Pezzella has played close to 10 times for River Plate, form what we can tell, and he made his debut against Defensores de Belgrano in an Argentine Cup game back in 2009.
Pezzella played for the Argentina team in the Toulon Tournament in 2009, and in preparation for the World Cup in 2010, he was a member of the team that played against the Argentine team a number of times, as preparation for the World Cup.
German has been a top performer for the Argentine U-20 team and he is the captain, and is a highly rated youngster in South America.
His strengths are in tackling and the reading of the game, plus he has significant leadership skills both off and on the pitch, and he has attracted the attention of a number of top European clubs.
In addition to Newcastle, Roma are also thought to be interested in the top 21 year-old, and if German does arrive at Newcastle, he will join his countrymen Fabricio Coloccini and Jonas Gutierrez, both of whom have played for the full Argentine national side.
The transfer fee is quoted at around £4M, but that seems like a lot of money for a relatively inexperienced player.
What do you think?
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62 comments so far
Quasi.modo
Nov 1, 2012 at 9:26 PM
Comment #41Breno
I would like to see HBA play behind the two strikers because AP has said that HBA is a no 10 and would like to play him in that role, but maybe he has defensive concerns that makes him feel that we still need to play wingers.
Anita doesn’t seem to be grasping the physicality of the league just yet, and is getting bullied when he plays but when he gels properly into the side he will be a valuable player as you can see his passing is excellent at times.
I don’t think Amalfitano is anywhere near the first team, and that Sammy, Oba and Fergie are capable of offering something more than him at the present minute but I agree he does seem to have the ability but as someone mentioned AP mustn’t be seeing it at training.
If Suarez is contained then we definitely stand a chance.
tarie4
Nov 1, 2012 at 9:31 PM
Comment #42Munster Mag
tbf, we were interested in alot of players from dejong to Vertonghen, but what stopped us Getting them was wonga!!!
Vertonghen turned down arsenal for spurs. (higher wages)
I think breno’s approach @11 was wrong. Yes we might not get him, but the kidd is exactly what we are looking for. Young, talented and his best years ahead of him.
But I do agree with all of U in parts.
As for Sunday Liverpool are very lightweight in attack and a bit in defense and midfield. We shud look to exploit that. We shud be looking to get at them and take all the points.
Simpson, willo, collo, Santon
Benny perch cabaye gutti
Cisse ba/shola (depending on fitness)
Munster Mag
Nov 1, 2012 at 9:44 PM
Comment #43Quasi, we have a number of weaknesses, and our unwillingness to pay out let us down. Despite the subterfuge and hot air of many devout Ashley supporters on this site ( and I am not an Ashley hater, just strongly dislike certain aspects of his stewardship ) , we just didnt spend. So, centre half is something we should have improved on – as identified by Pardew. We lack pace all over the team, and we lack creativity ( mot like Sunlan mind !! 🙂 ) . We neither have wingers who can consistently play well as wingers, and lack crossing accuracy and creativity from right back ( but 1 million stopped us getting the player we needed – buy hey, no one will takes NUFC for mugs now , eh ? Yawn ) . I’ve always liked Pards, but we have some real issues as above. We dont seem to have the wingers for 4-4-2, nor the belief ( or the right players in full ) for 4-3-3 . We believe too much in youth development ( cos its cheap ) and i think we get away with a lot because of our work rate. Nothing wrong with that, but I have a feeling a tonking is coming soon, and i havent seen one particularly impressive showing in the league this season. Put it this way, if football involved 12 players, we could play HBA in the hole and it would solve a lot of our issues, and Pardews issues. Unfortunately we are stuck with 11. Finally, our fans overrate both Cabaye and Tiote, although thats a side issue.
BelfastMagpie
Nov 1, 2012 at 9:52 PM
Comment #44Must admit im expecting nowt from us in the January window.
Expect nothing then you cant be dissapointed,is my new moto for transfer windows from now on lol
Probably best for others to do the same. 😉
Quasi.modo
Nov 1, 2012 at 9:55 PM
Comment #45Munster
That is a lot to digest, haha
Well I must admit that I would be one of those people who would defend the regime as I think it will be a lot of long term benefits, but I do agree that our current brand of football ie the football we’ve been playing this season has been uninspiring for a number of reasons, injuries has shuffled the pack a bit, frailties at the back means we probably can’t play 4-3-3 (an issue that a lot would say we should have rectified in the summer)
I don’t agree with your cynical approach that we are focusing in youth just because it is cheaper, it is more sustainable and just makes sense, but yes our work rate saves us most of the time, when we get to a point where we can combine that work rate with better football then we will be a force to be reckoned with.
Just depends on the way you see it I suppose, some want much better football now, and I would like that too, but if we look to the long term I think we have a much more stable future now as a result of MA and am willing to give him time to make this project work.
BelfastMagpie
Nov 1, 2012 at 9:57 PM
Comment #46Woo hoo we wont be held to ransom.
It’s great isn’t it? Haha
More or less a posh way of saying we’re tight c****.
Munster Mag
Nov 1, 2012 at 10:11 PM
Comment #47Quasi, you are misunderstanding my argument. Maybe I’m not clear but hope so. Yes, we have had injuries, but so have other teams – all of them. We chose not to invest in a centre half – as clearly identified by the manager – and you saw what happened with crosses against Man U. We chose not to buy a very good attacking french international right back – hopefully we still will, but who knows – certainbly we will have lost half a season. I am not unhappy with sustained youth development but until we decide that there comes a time when Ashley decides to back up a manager who got his club to a remarkable 5th place, then we wont move forward. We had that chance and chose not to take it. It concerns me that a so – so team like West Brom played more attractive football than us and probably should have beaten us – at St James’ ( or whatever our owners have decided its called ) . I wanted about 12 mill spent in the summer, that wasnt an unrealistic expectation surely. I appreciate the sustainability and youth argument – and belive in it. But we could have pressed forward. I belive that Ashley is happy once we are mid table or better, and will only invest accordingly. There could be far worse situations than that. But also far better in terms of what we could become as a club.
Quasi.modo
Nov 1, 2012 at 10:21 PM
Comment #48Munster
No, no I do get your gripe, I too wanted us to get Debuchy but for whatever reason it didn’t happen, we apparently had a fee agreed, they moved the goal posts or we weren’t willing to stump up. For whatever reason it didn’t happen. We all want to see players of a better standard come into the club, as you say it’s the only way we will move forward as a club but I don’t see this season as an opportunity missed, because I actually think that the structure we have in place will keep us in the 5th-7th positions.
If Ashley was happy enough with mid table, why would he fund the signings of Cabaye, Cisse, Santon given the fact that we had finished 12th the season before?
I genuinely do believe that he wants us to be a force in the PL and challenging for CL but doing so sustainably and in an economically efficient way.
West Brom aren’t a bad side and should have beat City so that’s not necessarily a massive cause of concern, and we won that game albeit with a bit of luck.
jesperfuglsang
Nov 1, 2012 at 10:22 PM
Comment #49Ibiza…if you are still here – it is just a gift I have (I have finally cracked Ed’s blog and all the knowledge is mine) lol
Munster Mag
Nov 1, 2012 at 10:36 PM
Comment #50But Quasi, its a bit of a worry when the values of the two teams are placed side by side. I’ll be happier when we are more willing to spend the type of money I talked about. My argument is partly predicated on buying so that we keep our purple chips ( ffs!! ) …..ie if we sell two good players, even for big bucks, will we invest as aggressively as other teams like Spurs do when they sell ? I doubt it hugely. Perhaps when we are financially stronger we will invest more heavily, and as i said, I am very pleased about many aspects of our clubs finances, prudence, youth approach etc. I think we missed out in the summer and hope we are a bit bolder this time, without being silly . I may be the differnece between keeping players like Ba, or not.
chris_g
Nov 1, 2012 at 10:38 PM
Comment #51Now I understand why Ketsy was so keen for us to sign Vertonghen in the summer. Just imagine what an awesome partnership we would have had with him and Iron Mike at the back 🙂
http://www.nufcblog.org/2012/11/iron-mike-williamson-the-best-centre-back-in-the-premiership-so-far
Quasi.modo
Nov 1, 2012 at 10:46 PM
Comment #52Munster
I seriously doubt that, if we sell one of our bigger players, we won’t replace them. If we didn’t that’d only weaken our team and there is nothing from the MA regime that suggests that they are willing to allow the quality of the team to decrease. We have a very good side at the minute, and we are steadily improving it, perhaps not as fast as some would want but still improving it.
We perhaps might not invest as aggressively as Spurs or Chelsea but we have yet to see if this aggressive investment will pay off for either side. (I think we can say it will work for Chelsea but c’mon, they spent 80million, we can’t compete with that) Spurs have started well but we aren’t far behind them and we are nowhere near our best yet.
So I would just want to advocate a more patient approach, which can be awfully frustrating at times, but will reap rewards in the future in my humble opinion.
I could be totally wrong and if I am then I will be on the back of the owner but until I see signs that we aren’t progressing I will remain optimistic.
Munster Mag
Nov 1, 2012 at 10:52 PM
Comment #53Quasi, I’d like your confidence but it wont happen. do you think that if we sold Cabaye for 20 mill ( overvalued) , that we would be brave enough to spend , say 15 mill on a really talented player. I doubt it. I would rather see 12 mill ( say ) spent in Jan, so that our better players see no reason to leave, other than highr wages, or to a team that wins things consistently, like Man U, Real, Chelsea etc. lets be honest, we netted 35 mill in cool cash for Carroll, and the club rolled out pards to talk about those nasty agents and how much a free transfer costs.
RonVanDam
Nov 1, 2012 at 11:08 PM
Comment #54Like i said yesterday – we NEED TO BUY German Pezzella otherwise we will regret later for not getting him when his asking price rockets
Carpet Shark
Nov 1, 2012 at 11:13 PM
Comment #55I Would prefer my CB atleast 6’2. I’ve never seen this name bantered about. How about Benedikt Howedes from Shalke looks class.
APBWA
Nov 1, 2012 at 11:47 PM
Comment #56My team for Pool
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Krul
Simpson Williamson Coloccini Santon
~~Jonas Anita Cabaye Ferguson
~~~~~~~~~~~~~Ben Arfa
~~~~~~~~~~~~~Cisse
Based upon Ba being injured. If we are being dominated in MF id put jonas in CDM and play 4-2-3-1
Conaldo (The Wizard)
Nov 2, 2012 at 12:10 AM
Comment #57Krul
Santon Saylor colo fergie
Anita cabaye Jonas
Ben arfa cisse/ba sammy
May aswell give sammy and fergie a real go.
Conaldo (The Wizard)
Nov 2, 2012 at 12:15 AM
Comment #58Easily switchable between 433 and 451 so we can control the midfield, and have lots of men forward in attack.
jesperfuglsang
Nov 2, 2012 at 6:10 AM
Comment #59Morning lads! 🙂
Wizard…you late night blogger 😉
…I think you are spot on and it would be easy to switch to 4-5-1 or 4-4-2 even.
I think Pardew need to think more about the difference between forward mentally and defensive mentallity.
Maybe he’ll find that pass and move he has been looking for all season 😉
roshan MAGPIE
Nov 2, 2012 at 6:28 AM
Comment #60http://www.nufcfans.co.uk/toon-man-tops-the-stats-for-europa-league/
our new creative mid fielder lol
mindshaft
Nov 2, 2012 at 8:33 AM
Comment #61We need to drop jonas – he does a lot of running but isn’t actually offering anything going forward – he’s one of my faves but enough is enough
Munster Mag
Nov 2, 2012 at 10:11 AM
Comment #62Conaldo, control the midfield? Are you having a laugh?