News today in the Evening Chronicle, that sources in France have said that Sochaux striker Modibo Maiga is the hot favourite to join Newcastle in January.
Modibo Maiga – Newcastle player in January?
It’s not the first time this has been reported, and it could be that the deal has already been struck with the French club, and the deal could go through very early in January.
That would be an excellent recovery from the Newcastle Board, after their failure to sign a striker on the last day of the summer transfer window, on August 31st.
We’ve always known the Mali striker is really keen to join Newcastle, and he went on strike in the summer to try to force a move to Newcastle, much like Frenchman Ben Arfa did the summer before.
If Maiga does arrive in early January, he’ll not be available too much in the first few weeks, since he will be participating in the African Cup of Nations with Mali, who won their group.
Maiga is a very skillful player, and will give Newcastle a different option up front, and he’ll cost the Magpies round £7M, which could be a decent deal for Newcastle.
News also that Newcastle will bring ina perhaps a couple of defenders, with Birmingham’s 27 year-old Liam Ridgewell still a target, and we wouldn’t be too surprised if Newcastle try to bring in Erik Pieters from PSV.
He was a top target in the summer, and could still arrive on Tyneside.
A striker and two defenders would be good signings for Newcastle in January, as long as we don’t lose any of our top players, like we did last January when Andy Carroll was sold on the very last day of the transfer window.
Three net new players in January would certainly strengthen the Newcastle squad for the run-in to the season.
Comments welcome.
12 comments so far
American Toon 13
Oct 29, 2011 at 1:47 PM
Comment #1Hope he comes and I hope he can cut it in the Premier League. Didn’t know a whole lot about him until Newcastle started tracking him.
American Toon 13
Oct 29, 2011 at 1:52 PM
Comment #2It might be more important to work on the defensive cover though, as it looks like Best and Ba + our midfielders can score goals. Pieters and Santon as fullbacks with Colo and Saylor in the middle and Tiote in front of them with Krul in goal would be a solid defensive unit.
SwedishMagpie
Oct 29, 2011 at 1:57 PM
Comment #3never seen him play but he is a decent player on fifa 😛
SwedishMagpie
Oct 29, 2011 at 1:59 PM
Comment #4what a game chelsea 2-3 arsenal
Scottishmag1
Oct 29, 2011 at 2:29 PM
Comment #5C’mon arsenal!!! Never thought I would say that
Chaz
Oct 29, 2011 at 3:20 PM
Comment #6Derek Lambias said it was a “done deal” when we were picking up 2 additional season tickets on Monday…
LEROI
Oct 29, 2011 at 4:45 PM
Comment #7As much as pieters & ridgewell in in jan sounds great. I think using the cash for pieters to get onouha instead sounds better. then we got ridgewell (for cheap) to fill in at left back or centre back & onouha could fill in at right back and centre back,four places covered by 2 decent young defenders! I’m taking maiga as a given now aswell. Maybe we should sign another quality DCM aswell?
supatoonkid
Oct 29, 2011 at 6:27 PM
Comment #8I’d rather have Luuk de Jong in January as he seems a top prospect but also if we brought in Maiga him and Ba would be in Africa and we’d have very little up front. A central midfielder as well would be good to give back up when Tiote’s in Africa. Ridgewell i think should be brought in so he can provide cover at LB and CB. In the summer then we can see what needs strengthening but players who we could snatch up are Papiss Demba Cisse, if Freiburg get relegated as he’ll be cheaper than his £18M price tag ATM, but also if Wigan get relegated we should look at brining in Moses and/or Rodallega as they could provide alot up front for us as ATM i think were still two attackers, one central midfield and one defender short.
AndyMac
Oct 29, 2011 at 8:31 PM
Comment #9“A striker and two defenders would be good signings for Newcastle in January”
Yes but any striker and any two defenders ? If we are to move forward then we need a quality striker. So is Maiga the next Drogba or another Shola ?
During the 2010/11 campaign Maiga struck up a 30 goal partnership with Ideye Brown each scoring 15 goals. Maiga and Brown were assisted by playmakeing duo Marvin Martin and Ryad Boudebouz as Sochaux qualified for the Europa League. Have we those players to help Maiga score his goals ????
Goals win games so if we scrimp and save on the rest of the squad surely we should be prepared to splash out on a genuine quality striker. No offence Modibo 🙂
colwell
Oct 29, 2011 at 9:08 PM
Comment #10If we are trying this hard to get him he must be quality. Yes we can spend 20m on a well known striker but if Carr and pards want him that bad I`ll take him anyday. No one on here really knows him and too say they rate other players above him is strange but I think we all trust Carr above any of our opinions so can`t wait to see this guy for us.
Dearka
Oct 29, 2011 at 9:15 PM
Comment #11Newcastle in january should buy , Liam Ridgewell, Erik Pieters, David Hoilett, Modibo Maiga or Luuk de Jong.
and sell(Danny Simpson, Alan Smith, Nile Ranger, Xisco and Fraser Forster)
however selling someone like Steve Harper would be a real shame but he is a first class keeper and should be playing 1st team football for someone in any league in the world
acientgeordie
Oct 31, 2011 at 9:08 AM
Comment #12New (old) boy here. agree with most of the possible choices, thenk Maiga would suit us down to the ground. But priority must also be given to central defender and 1/2 full backs.
(BTW my user name should be ancient but spelt it wrong can I change??
cheers