Luuk de Jong is expected to have his medical at Newcastle today, after he jetted into Newcastle airport last night to sign for the Tyneside club on loan for the rest of the season – but Newcastle are also aggressively trying to sign 23 year-old Clement Grenier before Friday’s transfer deadline.
Clement Grenier – Lyon midfielder
And Alan Pardew is pushing Joe Kinnear and Secretary Lee Charnley to move in quickly for Newcastle’s top target Clement Grenier, and put in an improved all cash offer for the 23 year-old Lyon play-maker – since time is short.
Alan had mentioned last night at Carrow Road after the game, that he hoped to have good news from Joe Kinnear today – so we have to hope Lyon will accept the bid from Newcastle, which the Chronicle (Lee Ryder) is reporting this morning.
And presumably it will be an increase on the £10M bid they submitted, at least that initial bid was reported in the French press over the weekend.
Grenier has said if the club gets a decent offer for him, their President Jean-Michel Aulas has told him he will consider it, and the lad certainly seems keen to join Newcastle.
If we can get Clement Grenier and Luuk in before Friday night, that would be good, given the position we are in late in this transfer window.
What do you think?
Personal note – my wife Madeline has to have some minor surgery today, so I will be out of commission for some periods today – I hope I miss the announcement that we’ve signed both Luuk de Jong and Clement Grenier. 😀
Follow us on Twitter, like us on Facebook and +1 on us on Google+
303 comments so far
Transfer Sage
Jan 29, 2014 at 11:00 AM
Comment #81lilo
is he anything like olivier giroud in terms of play and goals? or less goals
jordijohnty
Jan 29, 2014 at 11:02 AM
Comment #82what is often overlooked in our transfer dealings is that, yes, we do try to get players on the cheap, (most times these bids don’t work) but we can offer cash. In shepherds days we never seemed to pay of what we owed. So we can only bring in players when cash comes in. In this case cab’s sale
Transfer Sage
Jan 29, 2014 at 11:03 AM
Comment #83cj
I think we only have sissoko, anita, tiote, benny, gouff and possibly sammy as midfielders (and gouffy is 2nd striker). Marv clearly not rated so pointless counting him as he wont play, obertan, vukic and abeid all not good enough for various reasons.
I think strikers we have 1 good one in remy who is a loan, shola and cisse not good enough and gouff is used in midfield.
I think we have a good first 11 with some ok cover, but we need a lot more
JAMSHA
Jan 29, 2014 at 11:03 AM
Comment #84fkn starsports shit… no live derby day match in india for the 1st time…. :@
Jail for Ashley
Jan 29, 2014 at 11:03 AM
Comment #85Spoof,
The usual crowd will say look at Simmo and Perch now, they’re in the Championship and were replaced by Debuchy and Sissoko, but the point is we were woefully short when five were bought and have now let five go, better quality but the same short numbers, and you’re right, was there a game changer on the bench last night, I’m not sure of the stats but surely Shola is the worst PL striker with 500 mjnutes to his name this season.
Transfer Sage
Jan 29, 2014 at 11:04 AM
Comment #86cj
maybe nobody will take marv, obertan, gosling etc and give them the pay they get here so they are happy to sit on their contracts
also if we got rid of them we would just have no back up at all, we’d then need to bring in even more which wont happen, only once have we bought bulk and it was due to a relegation threat
Jail for Ashley
Jan 29, 2014 at 11:06 AM
Comment #87Can anybody please shed any light on the point of JfK publicly stating nobody would leave this window blatantly knowing it to be untrue.
Lilongwe Geordie
Jan 29, 2014 at 11:07 AM
Comment #88Sage,
Giroud was a late developer in that he only really had one good season at top flight before joining Arsenal, before that he had been very average or scored a decent amount in the French second tier. From what I have seen Giroud is probably better aerially, and in terms of goal return they are probably quite similar, although Giroud will outscore LDJ due to him being at Arsenal and getting better opportunities.
Jail for Ashley
Jan 29, 2014 at 11:07 AM
Comment #89Pardew last night said we despise the EL, then added as an after thought, in it’s current format.
Ancientcoptic
Jan 29, 2014 at 11:11 AM
Comment #90I will be a happy chappy if this goes through.
Outgoing: 20+ million for a player that could invoke the webster ruling, wanted to leave, and was at risk of injury and losing value…
Incoming: De Jong & Grenier…
Yes please. (That is if Grenier is signed of course)
cjtoon
Jan 29, 2014 at 11:12 AM
Comment #91TS:
Thats my point really if those you have mentioned are not good enough, my main issue with our dealings is that we cant seem to trim the crap out of our squad. Which in reality is what we need to do before we invest in the sort of 6 players we need to have a very good squad.
We all bleat on about giving the younger lads a chance so why not get rid of some of the crap and give them more opportunities but complement them with the addition of some first 11 signings.
Cisse isn’t a bad player at all he needs chances and consistent ones. Remy had a terrible dry spell this season and cisse should have been back in but it seems we are buttering remy up at Cisse’s expense imo. Hes a poacher in a team that doesnt create much in the heart of the box. I feel he’s had a lot of undue stick.
Lilongwe Geordie
Jan 29, 2014 at 11:12 AM
Comment #92Jail,
On that my only real thought would be that it is stupid to tell clubs that you are willing to sell players as then you look like you may be selling the player from a weak stance and be more accepting of lower fees. By saying no one is leaving you make clubs think they have to offer high to get a player.
Everton said Feillani wasn’t for sale in the summer and managed to swindle £28million from Man U for him.
I’m not saying that is what Kinnear was thinking as I am yet to be convinced thinking is a pastime Kinnear partakes in, but it is the only theory that makes sense to me.
~Anita One Bites The Dust~
Jan 29, 2014 at 11:14 AM
Comment #93Never even heard of this chap until yesterday. What pi$$es me off though is that, we should already have had all this sorted before Cabaye flew off to his medical… not pi$$ around until the last minute.
Lilongwe Geordie
Jan 29, 2014 at 11:16 AM
Comment #94Ancient,
HBA could invoke the Webster ruling this summer. Should we sell him? Very few players (3 to my knowledge) have used this rule to buy themselves out of a club, and 1 (Jonas to us) ended up with us having to pay his club anyway after a tribunal, so I hardly think it is realistic to use this.
When Rooney put in a transfer request he could have bought his contract out for around £5million according to reports back then. He could command far more than Cabaye in future wages and signing on fees, but it obviously still didn’t seem like a good idea to him!
runheed
Jan 29, 2014 at 11:17 AM
Comment #95Next match.. Take a pocketful of change and throw it in the direction of the management/ ownership. Profit… It’s all that matters
Bambams
Jan 29, 2014 at 11:17 AM
Comment #96Do we have a history of improving our offers for players, i tend to think that this is why we seem to jump from one main target to the next – we only offer what the owner of SD believes a player is worth AND they have to have a big green 70% off label hanging from their necks…..
pawl250
Jan 29, 2014 at 11:17 AM
Comment #97Hope this is true, think £10m-11m will be enough to get his services this window.
Him and Luuk would be good signings.
Would hope Newcastle try to double dip De Jong department and go for Siem De Jong also.
Say 11m Grenier, 8m De Jong thats 19m Cabaye covered and 2 players opposed to one!
Aim to get Cabella (12m), Gomis on a free and Luuk (9m rounded) or Remy (10m) in Summer!
Would be decent windows, especially seeing the back of Ameobi (Free), Jonas (wages purposes), Obertan (1m), Gosling (Free) and perhas RTaylor (1m) in the process.
Would like to see Bigi get his chance over Gosling and Marveaux more time over Obertan.
Ian Toon
Jan 29, 2014 at 11:18 AM
Comment #98If you know your going to be approached to sell a house, car, player it is a good negotiating ploy to let it be known you are not planning to sell. Supply: Demand the price will go up. Any market only needs one buyer.
cjtoon
Jan 29, 2014 at 11:18 AM
Comment #99TS:
Yeah we dont know anything really. I would love to see everyone divide the current squad into: keep/sell/future Potential. bet we would get some very different results!
Ian Toon
Jan 29, 2014 at 11:21 AM
Comment #100paw- hope you’ve finely dried off. I have yet to watch the game but I understand we wasted loads of goal scoring chances which was pretty much the case in the first half at WHU .
I would be happy to get 2 offensive players in and word that Cabella will join in the summer.
Transfer Sage
Jan 29, 2014 at 11:21 AM
Comment #101ancient
it’s not about value dropping though, I’d rather cabaye’s value drop to nothing because he has played out his career with us.
Got to remember if we let his contract run down he have been 30, would a big club really go for him at that age or would he end up signing an extension as we are the best option? hard to know.
Should man utd have cashed in on scholes because his value was dropping with age?
Belfast
Jan 29, 2014 at 11:24 AM
Comment #102It’s a strange one, because I can’t possibly see how you can ever have a strong squad with this one in one out policy.
You may replace the outgoing player with a better player like, but in terms of numbers the squad will never get any bigger. Anytime you suffer from a few injuries you’re going to struggle.
That’s always been the general theme under Ashley tbh
Bambams
Jan 29, 2014 at 11:26 AM
Comment #103Its always going to be Ash’s way, buy as cheap as he can thereafter he has a better chance of making a profit.
I would not have a problem if he put ALL the profits back into team strengthening.
I have just watched ‘Sporting Heroes’ with KK on Sky ! My god he still hungers for this club, Ash obviously is not an honest person – but i think we all knew that part.
Transfer Sage
Jan 29, 2014 at 11:27 AM
Comment #104CJ
Everyone will have their own opinion on who is to keep, who’s to go etc, but yeh would be good for the club to get some of them off the books, difficult though really if they aren’t good enough for anyone else to match their wages.
I’d go for getting shot of taylor (both), marv (obviously not fancied so a waste of pay), gosling, obertan, fergie, tav, shola
Then they all need to be replaced with quality, or good kids from the academy pushing through.
cisse is a little unlucky in that we just don’t seem to suit his style but the chances we are currently creating he may score if he has played….could have had remy to the left in sammy’s role last night with cisse in the middle, we had plenty balls into and across the box, so maybe he could do well.
Laurent Robert 32
Jan 29, 2014 at 11:27 AM
Comment #105Bambams, that programme with Kev was great. Lifted a real footballing weight off my shoulders listening to him speak of the club and his philosophy.
Bambams
Jan 29, 2014 at 11:33 AM
Comment #106Laurent Robert 32…
I only saw the last 20 odd mins but i have to be honest i know he took the club/Ash to court but he will always be in my opinion a great man. I had my season ticket for over 30 years up to when Souness came (Had enough of that man) and i recall saying to friends when under KK i would be happy to finish runners up every season playing that type of football. Call it lack of ambition or whatever, the football was brilliant. IMO i would have him back tomorrow….Awaiting the onslaught now !!
Ancientcoptic
Jan 29, 2014 at 11:34 AM
Comment #107“Lilongwe Geordie // Jan 29, 2014 at 11:16 AM
Ancient,
HBA could invoke the Webster ruling this summer. Should we sell him?”
If we cannot get him signed to a contract. YES!
Why keep a player that we can lose for nothing? Isn’t that why we sold Enrique.
Belfast
Jan 29, 2014 at 11:35 AM
Comment #108There’s no chance of De Jong starting in the derby like.
It will be Shola up top.
No disrespect to him, but I hope it’s his last derby, although I get the feeling it won’t be.
Always seems to get a new contract, anytime you think he’s leaving.
Bambams
Jan 29, 2014 at 11:35 AM
Comment #109Grenier or Cabella ?
Which player is better ?
Slank
Jan 29, 2014 at 11:37 AM
Comment #110Sage @ 104
You will upset Kets saying we should dump Marveaux especially as Kets reckons he is the best player at the club, even better than Cabaye with PSG have really messed up not going for Marveaux.
hitman
Jan 29, 2014 at 11:37 AM
Comment #111get him in,and de jong good bit of buisness thats if we can pull it off like.in jfk we trust lol :p
cjtoon
Jan 29, 2014 at 11:38 AM
Comment #112For me:
Starting 11:
GK: Krul
DL: Santon
DR: Debuchy
DC: Willo
DC: Colo
CDM: Tiote
BBM: Sissoko
AMR: Ben Arfa
AMC: Anita
AML: Remy
ST: Cisse
Bench: Elliott, Saylor, MYM, Gosling, Sammy, Gouff, Shola.
Keep: Krul, Elliott, Haidara, Santon, MYM, Colo, Saylor, Debuchy, Tavernier, Anita, Tiote, Sissoko, Bigi, Gosling, Abeid, Sammy, HBA, Gouff, Cisse
Sell: Willo (controversial), Raylor, Obertan, Marveaux, Amalfitano, Richardson, Miele, Jonas, Newton, Shola (release)
Future potential (loan or rotate): Dummett, Vuckic, Campbell, Good, Streete, Alnwick, Ferguson (so hit and miss – unsure)
Ancientcoptic
Jan 29, 2014 at 11:40 AM
Comment #113Transfer Sage // Jan 29, 2014 at 11:21 AM
ancient
“it’s not about value dropping though, I’d rather cabaye’s value drop to nothing because he has played out his career with us.”
I would rather the club got peak price for a player that did not want to play for us anymore. Cabaye even at 30 years old could find another club to give him a 2/3 year contract on top wages – they would not have pay anything for him, so they could offset that by luring him with European football and mega bucks.
Would you expect Cabaye to perform, or not be tempted to use the webster ruling, if we categorically denied him a move away, to play in the Champions League? I wouldn’t.
Slank
Jan 29, 2014 at 11:41 AM
Comment #114Cartoon
Shola’s contract expires at the end of this season so I expect him to be off.
Belfast
Jan 29, 2014 at 11:41 AM
Comment #115Kets is a few sandwiches short of a picnic Slank
Laurent Robert 32
Jan 29, 2014 at 11:44 AM
Comment #116Bambams, that’s because he played football the right way, to be positive and enjoy. That’s what it is all about, regardless of having a ‘medal’ round your neck.
The real medal is seen in the enjoyment of playing good, passionate football and attacking every team you play. In my opinion, winning something is a bonus for playing with excitement. Which is similar to what you mention about those days for you.
I’m still in my same St. James’ seat from those days, and it deflates me a lot seeing containing football.
Bambams
Jan 29, 2014 at 11:44 AM
Comment #117Slank….
Dont count your chickens…
JFK might do it again and Big Sho could get another 3 year contract ! “Toon sign experienced premiership striker” ….
Its a worry
SuperShearer
Jan 29, 2014 at 11:45 AM
Comment #118@Belfast – or as Kets would put it; A Few Marveauxs short of the greatest squad ever assembled.
Lilongwe Geordie
Jan 29, 2014 at 11:45 AM
Comment #119Ancient,
The Webster ruling doesn’t lose them for nothing though… The Webster ruling is irrelevant. Any player could buy out their contract, I can only think of 3 that have, and 2 that were successful doing it. Anyone saying it makes sense to sell Cabaye now as he would buy out his contract for £6million in the summer is not really looking at it properly.
Cabaye would then expect that £6million returned as a minimum signing on fee. Plus maybe another million or two as that is what he will get for joining PSG now, so £8million. Given French tax laws, PSG would therefore be shelling out £28-32million for a player they have just bought off us for £20 isn plus a signing on fee.
Transfer Sage
Jan 29, 2014 at 11:46 AM
Comment #120ancient
the webster ruling is utter bull mate…it never gets used. It’s not as clear cut as paying your contract off and going. Nobody uses it, only 3/4 have and the clubs have had to pay compo to the club who has lost out.
Where would cabaye get the 6mil to pay off his contract in the summer? PSG? well with 75% tax they’d have to pay him a 24mil signing on fee for him to get that…hardly going to happen.
And he would still play his heart out for us if he wanted to keep his france place, PSG wouldn’t want him if he was slacking off and not wanting to play.