Newcastle United reached a pre-contract agreement with French club Le Havre for 18 year-old striker Wesley Ngo Baheng last October and Wesley finally arrived on Tyne-side in early January.
Wesley Baheng – 18 year old French striker stand 6’4″ tall
Paris-born Wesley will of course follow in the footsteps of Magpies midfielder Charles N’Zogbia, who also joined from Le Havre as an 18 year-old, in August 2004. But there is difference in physique between the two as Wesley stands a massive 6’4″ to Charles’ 5’7″ frame, a small difference in height of 9″.
If Wesley is anything like Charles, then Newcastle will have a winner on their hands. 😀
Baheng’s move was a lot easier than N’Zogbia’s move turned out, since both clubs agreed a compensation package prior to the opening of last month’s transfer window. This is good in many respects because we have proved we can still do business with Le Havre, for future youngsters coming through at the club. We understand that Wesley has signed a 4.5 year deal at the club, which will keep him at the club until the summer of 21012 when he will still be only 22 years old.
That followed the uncomfortable business the first time around with N’Zogbia’s move. Needless to say we have been delighted with Charles at Newcastle, now we have the problem of trying to keep him at Newcastle over the summer, but still hope we can be successful with that.
Baheng joined Le Havre as a trainee in 1999, and is regarded as one of the rising stars of French football and will easily fit in at St. James’ Park since we already have N’Zogbia, Habib Beye, Claudio Cacapa, Abdoulaye Faye and Geremi all of whom speak French very fluently. This will hopefully assist Wesley to get acclimatized quickly at the club and he has already played in a couple of Reserve team games for us, and by all reports looks good. .
It’s really good to see young good players being recruited by the club. Bear in mind Wesley only turned 18 last September. When N’Zogbia came in September, 2004 he was the same age as Wesley is now, and was immediately challenging for a first team spot – and we had a good team under Bobby Robson at the time.
We are excited about the prospects of Wesley at Newcastle United, as we need a good strong striker at the club. We’ll have to see how he develops but for those people in Newcastle, it seems like our Reserve team and Youth team games are worth a visit to see some of these youngsters in action.
Welcome to Newcastle United, Wesley Ngo Baheng, and we wish him much success on Tyne-side in the seasons ahead.
Comments very welcome.
18 comments so far
Neil A H
Feb 10, 2008 at 3:02 PM
Comment #1He’s a few years off but hopefully by that time with him and Carroll we won’t be in a desperate need for a tall striker.
daiv
Feb 10, 2008 at 3:13 PM
Comment #2Can you ride a horse or train lions Wesley. Welcome to Billy Smarts football club. Toon forever though.
DC
Feb 10, 2008 at 3:57 PM
Comment #3tbh. Whats the point in this story?
No quotes etc… quite random…. especially since he would of been here for 2 months from nw….
Ed Harrison
Feb 10, 2008 at 4:05 PM
Comment #4DC – we’re writing a piece on each of the 5 youngsters we signed in January – this is the 4th one under the geenral headline – Welcome to Newcastle – we don’t have any quotes form Wesley. – guess he’ a quiet lad. Hey – it’s only February.
Aggi
Feb 10, 2008 at 4:42 PM
Comment #5could you post the links to the others Welcome to Newcastle
Edd Case
Feb 10, 2008 at 4:50 PM
Comment #6Well, welcome to the lad.
Just hope he doesn’t have any regrets at coming, given the current state of affairs at Barrack Road.
Ed Harrison
Feb 10, 2008 at 4:50 PM
Comment #7Aggi – yes will put them on main site — give me 10 minutes
valle
Feb 10, 2008 at 5:00 PM
Comment #8if he still lives in the year of 21012, and furthermore has only aged 3 years by then, ill buy you all a beer… Heck, ill buy you all a house if im also around at that time!!!!
valle
Feb 10, 2008 at 5:02 PM
Comment #9And another thing… We dont need to fight to keep Zog over the summer… We need to sell the spoiled kid and change directness for creativity. In the end, it will work out great for all parts.
Toon Al
Feb 10, 2008 at 5:39 PM
Comment #10charlie is one of our most creative players valle…
Tripp
Feb 10, 2008 at 6:08 PM
Comment #11that’s the problem….
Tom Cairns
Feb 10, 2008 at 6:21 PM
Comment #12He is ‘creative’ if you think that is sticking your head down and blindly running forward. Yes that that does sometimes ‘create’ opportunities but to me the ‘creative’ players are those who open the defense with a decisive pass, zog is a good player but is miles off being one of our better passers. Sorry if im wrong but thats how i interpretted ‘creative players’.
Leo*
Feb 10, 2008 at 7:20 PM
Comment #13good article lets hope that carroll will be the top striker now and he will come and partner him eventually
Ross
Feb 10, 2008 at 7:37 PM
Comment #14sure he’s f**king thrilled to be here.
valle
Feb 10, 2008 at 8:37 PM
Comment #15As been said by some of the guys who beet me to it, Zog isnt a player who can unlock teams by his passing. Tho he can at times unlock them with his runs with the ball, thats kinda directness rather than creativity wouldnt you agree Toon Al?… The kid has been wanting to leave for 2 years now, we have merely been able to keep him calm till now, sell him and get a superstar in who can raise the mood in the camp and make a pass.
valle
Feb 10, 2008 at 8:43 PM
Comment #16On the same note, i think directness is great in a WING player… Make the run and cross first time. And you could argue that Zog could play left wing rather than his preferred central role, but i actually think Duffers is beginning to show his quality and he seems to be in love with NUFC so he is our left wing for me (Rumours are that we will bid 10 mill for Downing tho)
thelongshanks
Feb 10, 2008 at 11:52 PM
Comment #17I hope baheng is the new anelka,zog needs to make up his mind if he stays or goes but none of these bulls*%t excuses.If we sell him downing would be a great replacement.I jus hope we get up the table more and i am staying confident that we will have a good patch b4 the end of the season.Martins is the man and his pace frightens players.Up the toon we aint gonna be overtaken by the scum.
JP from The Rock of Gibraltar
Feb 11, 2008 at 2:54 PM
Comment #18I just can’t stay positive anymore, these are worrying times especially with Keegan praising Alan Smith today!! How can he praise Smith and say he is very much part of the first team, when all he really is, is a squad player.