Younes Belhanda is a Moroccan International midfielder, who wants to play in the Premier League, and it looks like his club, Montpellier, will be willing to let him go this summer.
Younes Belhanda – 23 year-old Moroccan International
And there was a report yesterday that Aston Villa were interested in the 23 year-old attacking midfielder, and it may be they are the first club in for the player.
The Montpellier Chairman Louis Nicollin said a couple of days ago that Aston Villa are one of five clubs who have already made an offer for the 19 times capped Morocco international.
The two Milan clubs, Atletico Madrid and Galatasaray are thought to be the other four clubs who have already lodged bids, but it could be that the transfer fee – thought to be around of €14M (£12M) for Belhanda – is too much for the Magpies.
Newcastle don’t tend to pay out that kind of money for players these days, and attempt to bring in cheaper and less-known players that Chief Scout Graham Carr has spotted, and mainly from the continent – in France, Holland or Belgium.
It seems that Aston Villa are making a move for the player, and he does want to come to play in the Premier league, and in the past London clubs Arsenal and Tottenham have been interested in the Moroccan.
This is what Belhanda said today, and he mentions Aston Villa:
“I am definitely aware that there are five clubs with serious interest in me,” “The president told me how much I will cost for any team that wants me.” “I have told everyone that England will be my first choice.
“Aston Villa is a great club with a big history playing in the best league in the world, so let’s see what will happen.”
If Newcastle do sell some fringe players this summer, we think the Tyneside club could bring in another winger as well as a center-back and a striker, which seem to be our top two targets this summer.
And there’s supposed to be a transfer meeting this week at Newcastle, but no sign of Alan Pardew returning yet from his holidays.
For the record Belhanda joined the Montpellier Youth Academy at the age of 13, after several French clubs wanted him, and since making his debut in the team’s first league match of the 2009–10 season against Paris Saint-Germain at the age of 19, he has made 142 appearances with 29 goals and 16 assists for the former French Champions.
And he will be well known by Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa, who was the Montpellier captain before joining Newcastle in January.
For those of you who have seen Belhanda play – what do you think?
Comments welcome.
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258 comments so far
Spoof
Jun 6, 2013 at 5:02 PM
Comment #1£12m, move the decimal point one place to to left and we might have a chance !
OhSholaAmeobi
Jun 6, 2013 at 5:05 PM
Comment #2Just like Boudebouz, he’s not quite as good as people make out. Can see him being Taarabt 2.0.
WWYCD
Jun 6, 2013 at 5:08 PM
Comment #3Oh I’d happily have him in our starting 11
dubzy
Jun 6, 2013 at 5:09 PM
Comment #4cheaper and less-known players gets you nowhere,you seen that this year ,MA needs to get the cash its simple,then again didnt i here top 10 was our target for this season
Black and White with an army lol
Jun 6, 2013 at 5:11 PM
Comment #5so in other terms we won’t get him but the likes of Villa will get him
Tommyy
Jun 6, 2013 at 5:13 PM
Comment #6Villa would outbid and outfight us for him no problem. We don’t go for anyone who has anyone else after them. Which is probably why wet were nearly relegated.
Black and White with an army lol
Jun 6, 2013 at 5:14 PM
Comment #7if he was going for 5 million MA still won’t buy the lad
C.Cole & W.Bridge here we come
Ibizatoon - Back By Popular Demand
Jun 6, 2013 at 5:15 PM
Comment #8Okay then, much has been made recently about wanting young, talented, British players in the team. At £12m for Belhanda, would we be better to spend it on say Ince?
Ibizatoon - Back By Popular Demand
Jun 6, 2013 at 5:16 PM
Comment #9made? Perhaps…said*
WWYCD
Jun 6, 2013 at 5:17 PM
Comment #10Ibiza
No
Ibizatoon - Back By Popular Demand
Jun 6, 2013 at 5:17 PM
Comment #11Yo…Why?
Black and White with an army lol
Jun 6, 2013 at 5:17 PM
Comment #12i wonder how much MA will actually spend on players this season? i reckon 7 million.
Black and White with an army lol
Jun 6, 2013 at 5:19 PM
Comment #13any prediction lads who will come?
i say Cole & Bridge maybe Bramble
santonthenewmaldini
Jun 6, 2013 at 5:19 PM
Comment #14I hope this transfer meeting that we are supposed to be having is just rubber stamping who is getting signed!!
Have had all year to plan who we want to sign the second Pardew was backed to stay they should have been making bids left right and centre !!
At least this time Pardew had not come out making promises to the fans….. yet !
Spoof
Jun 6, 2013 at 5:20 PM
Comment #15TDS from previous thread
as you say we won’t know the exact figures, but what we do know is that due to a lack of due diligence Ashley has spent somewhere in the region of £100m more than what he anticipated, that error is probably why he hasn’t made the profits he was hoping for, without that additional fee he would probably have earned quite a sizeable figure, but due to his mistake we as fans are suffering due to his determination to get some of his outlay back, don’t ask me for facts as I don’t have any, this is just how I read the situation, but to me we are suffering from his error, and that is wrong and I can’t understand why some people sympathise with him and can understand why he runs the club as he does, people make mistakes in all walks of life, all you can do is shake them off and get on with it, what he is doing is trying to correct his own error by taking as much as he can whilst giving as little as possible, to me that is another error, and as the old saying goes, 2 wrongs don’t make a right, but as long as he tries to change that, then we will never have a successful team, and that hurts !
WWYCD
Jun 6, 2013 at 5:20 PM
Comment #16Ibiza
Oh u want more of an answer?! Haha
12mill on a lad who plays in the championship and is relatively unproven is not for me at 5-7 then yes but 12 is just too much imo
croftus5678
Jun 6, 2013 at 5:20 PM
Comment #17@8 ibiza
i agree ince at cheaper maybe 8mil + english (ok maybe not as good yet but more potential)
will hughes is another but i dont believe he will go for 10mil maybe 6mil with add-ons ect.
santonthenewmaldini
Jun 6, 2013 at 5:22 PM
Comment #18I have a funny feeling one of the reasons Pardew kept his job is he will not rock the boat and demand lots of players and have vast amounts of money spent
For all we know he might have got told by Ashley and Llambas you will get a striker and defender that Carr has sourced on the cheap keep us up again and keep your job as they sort of have Pardew to ransom as realistically he is not going to get an opportunity to manage a club like ours again after he leaves us
croftus5678
Jun 6, 2013 at 5:23 PM
Comment #19i would love us to have some future eng internationals again like before to give watching euro’s and world cups more interest !
bigi/will hughes/cambell/ince should all make the grade imo.
Black and White with an army lol
Jun 6, 2013 at 5:24 PM
Comment #20i heard AP was on holiday and reports say that he’s got his tactic sorted out by watching a miracle on the field, he saw a dog chasing the ball and then he thought to himself AHA that’s how you chase & attack the ball.
Vancmagpie
Jun 6, 2013 at 5:26 PM
Comment #21@Ibizatoon
I`m sure with the level of attraction the football played under KK, we from what here back home would`t have settled for the likes of Wonga as shirt sponsors.
I know we didn`t win anything but we were everyones second favourite team at the time.
How far we have fallen to be the butt of the same people`s jokes now
Ibizatoon - Back By Popular Demand
Jun 6, 2013 at 5:27 PM
Comment #22Santon..I would hope so too. If this is the first transfer meeting they should all just give up now.
Yo…It has been known to help encourage healthy debate from time to time 🙂
Fair enough. Maybe I shouldn’t have implied for the same money then. Saying that, is £12m a bargain for Balhanda or more the going rate? I guess the latter. Next question I suppose is, should that be a reason to put us off?
I’m split. The fact we’ve picked up players like Cabaye etc so inexpensively (mike will be impressed that I avoided the word cheap there), has allowed us to do more with our budget. However, not paying out where we’ve needed it has cost us dearly, like we saw last summer (well, partly – don’t want to start a debate based on the idea i’m putting all of last season down to lack of transfers….uugghh). Basically, I just wish he’d get it right all of the time, would make life so much easier.
Croftus…I would say a combined total of about £14m for Ince and Hughes would be pretty decent business. Add a striker and a CB to that and I’d be a happy fan come September.
Black and White with an army lol
Jun 6, 2013 at 5:27 PM
Comment #23but then again reports say that AP also at the same time witness the person kicking the ball all the way up the field to his lonely dog and then AP suddenly had a big smile on his face
Spoof
Jun 6, 2013 at 5:28 PM
Comment #24Santon @18
who’s to say that Pardew hasn’t been told that he must receive more than what he spends, so many are being pessimistic and stating that Pardew may only get about £7m, to be honest I think they are being optimistic, I said a few weeks ago that most of his summer spending was done in January, as yet I have came across nothing to make me think differently.
spitfire_
Jun 6, 2013 at 5:30 PM
Comment #25He cost to much for the 20th richest club in the world. Period!
Black and White with an army lol
Jun 6, 2013 at 5:31 PM
Comment #26Spoof
same here mate i said that the french lads came in because of this new season so there will be no signing unless the player is free or cheap
Ibizatoon - Back By Popular Demand
Jun 6, 2013 at 5:33 PM
Comment #27Vanc…I hear you, but I don’t put all of that down to Ashley. Our downfall started before Ashley arrived, his naivety or mistakes certainly didn’t help matters.
For me, it was actually after our relegation that I started to begin to have any sort of pride about Newcastle again. For me, we had become a joke around the time of Sir Bobbys sacking.
Spoof
Jun 6, 2013 at 5:33 PM
Comment #28Black and white
free and without an agent, as we can’t afford the agents fee ?
Black and White with an army lol
Jun 6, 2013 at 5:34 PM
Comment #29as soon as we played QPR to secure our league position we should of went in for players, we could of got PEA through the door as soon as the season was finished
WWYCD
Jun 6, 2013 at 5:34 PM
Comment #30Ibiza
But debate on here causes rumbles
Going rate I’d say but if any PL club doesn’t have to pay the going rate for players after the added billion in revenue I’d be surprised. Problem is transfer dealings are never always going to be cheap sometimes u won’t get cheap deals and it seems we will only get people in if they are cheap and if they aren’t we will stand still unless forced into spending
It’s a gamble every window imo and considering the huge money the PL teams pull in its one that will continually get harder
Black and White with an army lol
Jun 6, 2013 at 5:35 PM
Comment #31Spoof
very true mate i forgot the agents, ah well better make do what we’ve got now
Black and White with an army lol
Jun 6, 2013 at 5:38 PM
Comment #32WWYCD
the man problem is other teams will know we are the 20th richest club so far and will demand more money if we approached there players
Black and White with an army lol
Jun 6, 2013 at 5:38 PM
Comment #33sorry ( main problem )
Vancmagpie
Jun 6, 2013 at 5:38 PM
Comment #34I`m not really interested in what Villa do or don`t do.
I want to know what we are doing to put everything right that went so massively wrong last season.
Do people think Ince etc would fancy joining us rather than a team that wants to win something.
Ibizatoon - Back By Popular Demand
Jun 6, 2013 at 5:39 PM
Comment #35Yo…In the words of Ant and Dec “Let’s get ready to…” on second though, forget it.
Very true, with the extra money coming in, the whole “we don’t have much money” thing doesn’t quite swing it. It will be an interesting summer, hopefully a good one for us toon fans.
WWYCD
Jun 6, 2013 at 5:39 PM
Comment #36Black and white
Yup no argument there and if we are trying to get from poor teams they will publicise the players price and try and drive it up with competition which is when we will now out
Spoof
Jun 6, 2013 at 5:40 PM
Comment #37According to the Daily Lie ( sorry, I misspelt Mail ) Steven Taylor is on Arsene Wengers list of wanted centre backs
WWYCD
Jun 6, 2013 at 5:41 PM
Comment #38Ibiza
Hopefully but I doubt it will end much better than last summers
Black and White with an army lol
Jun 6, 2013 at 5:41 PM
Comment #39Vancmagpie
i honestly think players like Ince & Hughes would thrive playing for us especially with our home support
Sack Llambias
Jun 6, 2013 at 5:42 PM
Comment #40Ibizatoon
I would prefer Tom Ince. He’s a left winger/ wide man who is tricky
and pacy. He can finish and also provide a link up service to the
striker. He’s immensely confident and just what we need to get
behind defences.