Jamaal Lascelles had been impressive for Newcastle this season, not only for his solid play in central defense but also because of his leadership skills on and off the field.
It’s now little wonder to supporters that Rafa appointed him the Newcastle captain the summer before last, even though he was only a 22-year-old at the time.
Jamaal then led Newcastle to promotion after playing with a groin problem from October 2016 through just before the end of that season.
The former Nottingham Forest player continued to play through the pain and as soon as we were promoted he had an operation on his groin.
Jamaal Lascelles – after scoring against Stoke
So it’s not surprising that Chelsea are said to be monitoring the Newcastle captain, according to the Evening Standard.
We have heard whispers coming from the Blues for a year or so now related to Lascelles and their proposed interest in signing him, but we doubt that Rafa will let his captain go anywhere.
The news is that Chelsea want to recruit more English players and have brought in Danny Drinkwater and Ross Barkley since last summer.
They are also wanting to lower the average age of the team with Jamaal being only 24 years old.
It will be a step up currently for the 24-year-old, and he will get to play European football.
However, we don’t think Rafa will even think of letting Jamaal go and will tell him that he intends to lead Newcastle to new heights in the seasons ahead and wants him to remain as the Newcastle captain.
Jamaal has just recently signed a new and improved long-term deal at Newcastle.
As Rafa starts to build up his new Newcastle side as quickly as he can under miserly Mike Ashley, we expect more of the big clubs to come after our players.
That will simply be evidence and validation that we have (very) good players in the side.
Comments welcome.
5 comments so far
Toondog2
Feb 22, 2018 at 2:44 PM
Comment #1I don’t see the point of being a feeder club for the top 6 clubs.
How are we to compete in the EPL without better players who have become so by Rafa’s coaching .
Keep away,they are our players.
HWTL
toonincheek
Feb 22, 2018 at 2:46 PM
Comment #2Repost:
To be fair to Lascelles, considering what he has
done for the Club, you would have to give him the
details of any bid and ask him if he is interested.
He would likely say No.
Munster Mag
Feb 22, 2018 at 3:05 PM
Comment #3This cud get ugly. Chelsea wud double or treble his salary and offer London, champs league etc
DaveD1000
Feb 22, 2018 at 4:01 PM
Comment #4or a warm bench
twotonearmy
Feb 22, 2018 at 5:55 PM
Comment #5The hard thing about this for many players is thinking long term. How many players have jumped at the chance to move to a top six side but then waste away on the bench or the reserves. Sure they pick up a nice paycheck but then they are offloaded and struggle to ever retain the momentum they had before they were sold.
How many countless players has Chelsea and Man City done this to?
Either stay with the team you are with that got you all the attention and praise or go off to a big club and risk drifting into obscurity.
Atleast teams like Spurs and Liverpool tend to integrate these players more than most. Man U demands players are stars from day one so if they aren’t they are usually sold within a season before too much of their value drops. Arsenal are probably the one top team that doesn’t do this to players.