Rafa wanted two players brought in late during the January transfer window – James McCarthy of Everton and Andros Townsend of Crystal Palace.
He got neither.
The Newcastle manager was also keen to sign Tom Cairney of Fulham earlier in the window, but it wasn’t too surprising when Fulham manager Slavisa Jokanovic said no way Jose.
Everton central midfielder James McCarthy – worth £20M
And then Fulham said Tom was available but for a massive £20M – nice try – pull the other one – it’s got bells on.
🙂
The Northern Echo are reporting today that Newcastle think they can strike a deal for Tom at £12M and the Mail are reporting Newcastle still want James McCarthy from Everton, but that we may have to pay up to £20M for the former Wigan central midfielder.
James is a very good player and he would be a great acquisition for us and he also has the vast experience of having played 224 Premier League games in total for Wigan and Everton.
Even though Everton manager Ronald Koeman says he wants to keep James at the club and that it’s because of his injuries last term that kept him out of the first team, James could well want to make a fresh start.
We hope he wants to make a fresh start!
And the Irish International is said to be (very) willing to join Rafa’s revolution on Tyneside.
With today’s crazy transfer fees we think that £32M for both central midfielders would be decent enough value. although it’s possible we could get James for less than the £20M Everton will ask for him.
Bringing those two players in and having Jonjo Shelvey and Isaac Hayden available would give us a strong central midfield for next season.
And we also expect Rafa to bring in another defensive midfielder this summer to challenge young Isaac Hayden for that starting position in the team.
Both James and Tom were wanted by Rafa in January as was Andros Townsend.
And for £13M, Andros would still be a good buy and it seems the fans are willing to forgive him for leaving us in our time of need last summer.
So for James McCarthy, Tom Cairney and Andros Townsend we can get three very good players for around £45M – that’s a fairly good deal considering today’s (very) inflated prices.
Rafa will have between £70M and £100M cash to spend this summer plus anything he can get from selling players – and there are quite a few players who will be leaving Newcastle before September rolls around.
What do you think about this?
Comments welcome.
80 comments so far
catchy in norway
May 23, 2017 at 9:47 AM
Comment #1condolences to those in manchester last night.
the sooner we ban islam out of the uk, the safer our people will be.
it’s not just the bombers. it’s the girls being groomed from the age of 11.
sad
Tim the toon
May 23, 2017 at 9:58 AM
Comment #2Thoughts with all of those impacted by the sad events in Manchester overnight.
Just watched the 1st half of England vs. Guinea; Arma has looked sharp, but should probably have scored. Very much a player in the Gayle mould in that he loves to run the channels. He can be successful at NUFC so long as we play a style of football that suits him. No point in playing him alone up front trying to hold up the ball; he needs runners from midfield getting in the box.
Tim the toon
May 23, 2017 at 10:04 AM
Comment #3The lad from the bindippers has also looked sharp, Ojo. Maybe we can put in a cheeky bid to fill one of our gaps – wide on the left 🙂
barkel
May 23, 2017 at 10:11 AM
Comment #4Catchy
I think all of us are sending condolences to Manchester and it is a very emotional time but try to keep your views on religion off the blog, this is not the place for it.
Tim the toon
May 23, 2017 at 10:11 AM
Comment #5Wow!! Great goal for England. Screamer from 35 yards by Lewis Cook.
Tim the toon
May 23, 2017 at 10:17 AM
Comment #6And then the England defender scores an OG from the centre circle, by playing a back pass to his keeper without even looking!
martoon
May 23, 2017 at 10:17 AM
Comment #7On topic – out of all players we have been linked with McCarthy is the one I would least like to see here. I just don’t rate him and talk of £20m is ridiculous in my opinion.
SPRINGY
May 23, 2017 at 10:20 AM
Comment #8Martoon
Have to agree for that sort of money,aye 10m maybe but 20m is steep
SPRINGY
May 23, 2017 at 10:24 AM
Comment #9Condolences to all involved…family and friends to those lost or injured after the cowardly attack in manchester…sad,sad day.
Tim the toon
May 23, 2017 at 10:24 AM
Comment #10If he’s not good enough to play regularly for Everton, why would we even consider him? Not like he’s a youngster that’s going to improve – he’s probably reached the kind of level he’s likely to.
Would far rather spend that kind of money on players that will improve over the next couple of seasons.
barkel
May 23, 2017 at 10:27 AM
Comment #11I think McCarthy would be an excellent addition, purely for the role of covering attacking fullbacks. He’s an ideal midfielder for 4-5-1. I agree that £20m might be a bit steep considering his fitness issues this season but probably worth somewhere between £12-15m
SPRINGY
May 23, 2017 at 10:27 AM
Comment #12Jp..from the rock posted a video of a lad we have apparently been linked with last nyt…his name is henry onyekuru….talented lad,rapidly fast and skillful…reading this morning that arsenal have opened talks with him….looks a good player,if a litte raw.
SPRINGY
May 23, 2017 at 10:30 AM
Comment #13Mccarthy could do a job for us.. im sure,but not for 20m….its the price i have an issue with more then the player although his injury record not been the best of late apparently.
switch365
May 23, 2017 at 10:35 AM
Comment #14The piece above has 1 glaring omission, left wing?
Our right flank has been the mainstay of our attack for years. While our wingers do swap sides during the match, I don’t think Rafa would want a right winger to play permanently on the left.
Roll on July 1st when we start to see some semblance of truth rather than pure speculation.
barkel
May 23, 2017 at 10:36 AM
Comment #15I see him as a massive upgrade on Colback, I agree 20m is steep but if we do sell Colback the 5-6m? we would get for him would offset nicely
Essex Geordie Bill
May 23, 2017 at 10:38 AM
Comment #16Really sad that these people think that they are performing these barbaric acts to further what they see as a noble cause, of course they aren’t but how to change their way of thinking?
My condolences to the victims families. RIP the victims.
hibbit
May 23, 2017 at 10:38 AM
Comment #17we won’t spend £20m on Mccarthy pure paper talk !!!
not saying we won’t buy him but we won’t be paying any where near that figure
Essex Geordie Bill
May 23, 2017 at 10:39 AM
Comment #18If we are going to spend a lot of money with Everton I’d rather pay out a bit more for Barkley.
SPRINGY
May 23, 2017 at 10:43 AM
Comment #19The speculation is steadily growing….some of the names and money for these players is growing as well….by the time the window actually opens the papers will have us bidding for messi,with a transfer kitty of 500m…..silly season has begun! Lol
john tudor
May 23, 2017 at 10:45 AM
Comment #20Whats up with our own ball juggler?
hibbit
May 23, 2017 at 10:48 AM
Comment #21morning Bill
post 16
we might not agree on things football but i 100% agree with you on this
the indiscriminate murder of kids
children from all creeds and nationalities were targeted in this barbaric act
lesh
May 23, 2017 at 10:52 AM
Comment #22Having posted the following on the previous thread, up pops Catchy who’s clearly a clone of Trump and his UKIP sidekick Farage
Repost
A sad and viscous attack on kids in Manchester will take the heat off our Supreme Leader. The hard nose bustards in the right wing media and Tory HQ will see it as an opportunity to get wavering voters back on side.
Anyway, enough.
It appears that in Catchy, we have an aspiring Trump in our midst.
It’d be good if folk could see a bigger picture – but the Sun, Mail, Star, Torygraph, Express and other right leaning media organs are more concerned with forming and reinforcing it readers’ opinions.
martoon
May 23, 2017 at 10:56 AM
Comment #23I actually wonder how far along the line we are with transfers. Practically Rafa will have to decide who he is keeping and who he is letting go. Then a list of areas to strengthen with a list of candidates will have to be drawn up and presumably Rafa doesn’t do this on his own – presumably through a series of meetings with coaching staff, scouts, Penfold etc. plus players will have to be informed about their future – you would hope with a personal meeting. Only then will we be in a position to makes bids and even then some may depend on players leaving and what fee we get for them. Maybe it doesn’t work like this but it is difficult to see any other way of doing it.
cheick n bake
May 23, 2017 at 11:01 AM
Comment #24@catchy i think its better to leave religion out of this blog. anyways, back to football, i think our midfield should remain the same with hayden and shelvey. i think we need a left winger along with a new left back and striker, the rest should just be squad players. what do you guys think?
NezzaNUFC
May 23, 2017 at 11:02 AM
Comment #25Lesh
Where is Catchy the clone of trump?
He wrote “condolences to those in manchester last night.
the sooner we ban islam out of the uk, the safer our people will be.
it’s not just the bombers. it’s the girls being groomed from the age of 11.
sad”
I think he’s spot on in fact ban all religion from the UK because it’s all a myth anyways and I couldn’t give a toss who supports this are not,it’s all good seeing kids with imaginary friends but full grown adults with them is simply pathetic.
On another note sign these guys up.
Lee Charnley Bunga Party
May 23, 2017 at 11:05 AM
Comment #26Would not surprise me if Mccarthy has never been a Rafa target and is purely media speculation !!
Offkey
May 23, 2017 at 11:16 AM
Comment #27my thoughts are with those effected by this, however, using these attacks to push an EDL ideology is just not right. Don’t fan the flames of hatred.
Tsunki
May 23, 2017 at 11:20 AM
Comment #28Spiralling world we live in. As ever it’s not religion itself, or even the perpetrators of violence that are the real problem, the real criminals are those who twist the motivational power of a religion and coerce the weak minded into doing horrendous things while they just hide and watch their handiwork. It’s usually power or good old fashioned greed behind it. Same story for thousands of years, but now they have social media to help them.
north east lincs toon
May 23, 2017 at 11:29 AM
Comment #29Those poor people in Manchester everything comes second today my heart goes out to them.
OneAlanShearer
May 23, 2017 at 11:31 AM
Comment #30So..
Of those linked who do we think we will actually get
My list. ..
Reina
Mooy
Cairney
Pires
Pepe (winger)
Gray
Simunovic
Atsu
My list of will go elsewhere
Batsyui or however you spell it
Maguire (I think lfc will get him)
Robertson
King
Townsend (stay at palace)
Fernando
Mangala
Mccarthy
Rodriguez
Ambrose
…
Offkey
May 23, 2017 at 11:32 AM
Comment #31On my last post, just watching live news on itv, guy reporting from Manchester and who walks behind him, the former leader of the EDL Tommy Robinson.
catchy in norway
May 23, 2017 at 11:36 AM
Comment #32Barkel, Lesh.
no not really, you may want to bury your heads, but this is real and it should be looked at and spoken about by everyone in society.
do football fans not have kids? why should it not be discussed or mentioned. i HATE the fact that this is a massive taboo subject and that somehow your a racist if you mention it.
by burying your heads in the sand, the problem will only get worse and we will end up like Sweden, where it is normal to have grenades going off in major cities weekly bases and not make international news, here where i live, a 4 year old girl was raped by 2 guys, but wasnt reported in the press because it was 2 guys from Somalia waiting to be processed, if it got out the authorities thought there would be riots.
i find it sad that those girls from rochdale have to walk the streets knowing the guys who did it got let out early, after serving only 3 years. the one common thing is there religion.
all religion is outdated, like Nezza said imaginary friends..
lets hope nothing happens at one of our games, because we would not be aloud to talk about it
barkel
May 23, 2017 at 11:41 AM
Comment #33Catchy
This is a footy blog, where we go to not have to talk about religion/politics etc. The internet is full of places for that.
I do not come on here to hear your views on Islam. I can talk or read about NUFC all day long, that is why I am on this particular blog. It is not burying my head, it just isn’t the place for it
Tsunki
May 23, 2017 at 11:46 AM
Comment #34Well well well there’s obviously a reason why subjects like religion are banned, because the likes of nezza and catchy are liable to cough up their extremist views. Most observers of religion do so peacefully. But you want to ban religion to cure the world of the few problematic individuals who ruin it for their own agenda? Ha ha let’s get rid of freedom of speech next. Then freedom full stop eh?
The Newcastle Armchair
May 23, 2017 at 11:51 AM
Comment #35Catchy
I do not understand your view. As much as I hate religion and the divide it causes, your statement can’t be anything but racist – How do you even know it was an islamic man? There has been no identification of the attacker.
Disgusting views and ashamed to support the same club as you.
Shot Bru
May 23, 2017 at 11:53 AM
Comment #36I reckon King and Gray for say $33 million would be sensible business from Rafa. Both players are fairly consistent and have good form in Premiership.
Batshuayi from Chelsea would cost as much as both..probably seen as a risk at the moment.
We are being told that the aim is to consolidate a place in the EPL next season and not aim to high, so I guess Gray and King are perfect candidates to help us consolidate!
Shot Bru
May 23, 2017 at 11:59 AM
Comment #37Only half the budget spent on 2 players, that would bag us 20 goals between them next season would be money well spent I reckon.
Lee Charnley Bunga Party
May 23, 2017 at 12:01 PM
Comment #38@Shot Bru
Would like to see us sign these 2 players one of them would probably have to play wide left though or that could also be Gayle?
The Newcastle Armchair
May 23, 2017 at 12:02 PM
Comment #39Gray and Batshuayi really don’t cut the mustard for me
I’m not trying to be hypercritical, maybe my standards are a bit high
Yeah they’re prem experience, but you know what you’re gonna get.
About 10 prem goals from Gray, maybe 15 from Batshuayi – for the price, it is not worth it.
Offkey
May 23, 2017 at 12:04 PM
Comment #40Can I just say, there is no burying of heads, it’s just such a complicated issue simplistic approaches of banning people from countries etc does not stop the problems. Terrorists can be home grown, banning religion has the potential to drive more to extremism as society drives religions underground where the criminals are. Prohibition rarely works look at history.