There has been news over the last few weeks that Rafa Benitez is hoping to get a decent contingent of his new players into Newcastle by the time pre-season starts on Monday 3rd July, which is two week this coming Monday.
But it seems our efforts to sign players early have come to little success and we have shifted six first team players out of the club and brought Christian Atsu in from Chelsea for £6.2M.
But Rafa is hoping to get the deals lined up so we can start bringing players in later this week and next week.
The more good players the better.
26 year-old Eibar center-back Florian Lejeune
The most likely players to come in now seem like two Liverpool stalwarts – 30 year-old Lucas Leiva of Liverpool and 34 year-old goalkeeper Pepe Benitez of Napoli, who will add much needed Premier League experience to the team.
The chances of signing Tammy Abraham from Chelsea quickly, seem to have faded rather rapidly and he’s off playing for the England U21 side in the European Championships in Poland until early next month.
Newcastle’s loan offer for the 19 year-old talented striker is on the table, but it hasn’t been taken up by Chelsea – not yet anyway.
And other clubs such as Dutch club Vitesse Arnhem, who have an excellent working relationship with Chelsea, as well as PL club Swansea – are moving in with new loan offers.
The transfer of 26 year-old Eibar center-back Florian Lejeune was reported close to completion a week ago, but that has stalled too, but he still looks a good bet for somebody coming in over the next two weeks.
Newcastle are willing to meet the release clause of £8.6M (€10M) in the Frenchman’s contract.
Other players Newcastle could sign in the next two weeks, with negotiations having already taken place, include winger Andros Townsend of Crystal Palace, striker Andre Gray of Burnley, winger Nicholas Pepe of Angers and midfielder Gabriel Pires of Leganes.
But one of the players coming in could very well be a complete surprise that we may not even have been linked with in the press up to this point.
There’s an interesting thought – he may not be one of the 100 players Newcastle have already been linked with this summer.
🙂
Which four players do you think Newcastle can sign in the next couple of weeks?
Comments welcome.
16 comments so far
OneAlanShearer
Jun 16, 2017 at 8:10 AM
Comment #1Pepe is moving within France. Was on twitter gffn this morning. 8 million euros. We offered 10 and so else offered 12 but I believe he’s moving to lille
martoon
Jun 16, 2017 at 8:13 AM
Comment #2It has gone very quiet about Townsend recently. As Palace don’t seem to have a manager yet I would imagine this makes it a bit tricky?
On the subject of managers I’m starting to feel a little sorry for makem fans when a guy thinks Aberdeen is a better prospect to manage than them!
SuperShearer
Jun 16, 2017 at 8:14 AM
Comment #3The appointment of Barnes to get us in “shape” for investors will almost certainly slow down any transfers. The fact LC has to run everything by him shows this. You can’t negotiate properly if everytime a counter-offer comes in you have to go elsewhere and say, “Ummm, sorry Mr. Barnes, they want £X Million, can we go that far?” – worrying as much of this will be undermining Rafa’s plans.
martoon
Jun 16, 2017 at 8:16 AM
Comment #4OneAlanShearer – My geography is not great but I thought Napoli was in Italy?
hibbit
Jun 16, 2017 at 8:27 AM
Comment #5Barnes is here for one thing and one thing only protect Ashley’s interests and achieve the maximum return for his boss
martoon
Jun 16, 2017 at 8:27 AM
Comment #6Don’t panic yet says the mighty reporter that is Lee Ryder.
http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/newcastle-united-offers-loan-bids-13191837?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter
reilly
Jun 16, 2017 at 8:35 AM
Comment #7jib sshhh you old fossil bollicks.
i put it on here months ago that people were looking to invest in the club,and was called a wum by the likes of hibbit.
think its best i dont post what in know from now on.
LewSpi v2.0
Jun 16, 2017 at 8:43 AM
Comment #8Martoon
OAS is referring to Nicolas Pepe, not Pepe Reina
hibbit
Jun 16, 2017 at 8:49 AM
Comment #9reilly
sorry mate you need to read back i agreed with you and still do
martoon
Jun 16, 2017 at 8:52 AM
Comment #10LewSpi v2.0 – OK cheers, sorry my mistake. I’ve just notice Ed calls him Pepe Benitez in the above article – maybe a long lost relative!
ShirebrookToon
Jun 16, 2017 at 8:56 AM
Comment #11Reilly
Who’s the Ines taking over Newcastle United? Or can’t you say?
ShirebrookToon
Jun 16, 2017 at 8:56 AM
Comment #12** ones
reilly
Jun 16, 2017 at 9:01 AM
Comment #13i dont know who they are.i was just told a few months back that there were investors being showing around sjp.
kakaobi
Jun 16, 2017 at 9:14 AM
Comment #14Technically the transfer window is open but most players are still on holiday and no body really signs a contract until July 1st. Think we’re all getting ahead of ourselves players that are moving at the moment are a bit expensive for us
gazthehillbilly
Jun 16, 2017 at 9:17 AM
Comment #15Player for player does anybody think what we currently have is worse than 17 of the other 19 premier league teams?
Manager wise, same question?
Personally I think we are currently well equipped to be a bang average mid to lower premier league squad but with a world class manager. My point being I hear/read a lot of concern about the lack of signings yet I believe a large portion of last seasons squad will step up as they have a point to prove, Ritchie, Gayle, Yedlin, Hayden and Darlow to name a few.
4-5 in this window and replace any sold thereafter and I don’t see next season being too bad to be honest.
Don’t get me wrong would love an 80million splurge and some top quality hungry players at SJP next season
BeeGuy
Jun 16, 2017 at 10:25 AM
Comment #16I wonder if this Barnes guy heard MA say “every penny we have (or something like that) goes to Rafa building the squad” and stepped in to keep his boss in check. For Barnes, finishing 17th may be just the right ticket.