It’s really difficult to work out what the situation is at Lille, and whether the former French Champions are serious in their stand to keep their French International right-back Mathieu Debuchy at the club this summer.
Mathieu Debuchy – still coming to Newcastle?
Since their President Michel Seydoux last week openly pulled out of the deal, we’re not sure if that was a gambit to get Newcastle to bid more for the player, or they really mean it.
And of course that came after there was supposed to be an agreement on the fee between the two clubs of £6M plus some potential add-ons, thought to be around £2M.
Newcastle insiders are saying that agreement was reached in the previous week, and they were surprised with what the Lille President had to say last week.
And Newcastle haven’t shown their hand in this deal either, although there was news yesterday that Newcastle had launched a double bid of £10M for Ajax players Vurnon Anita and Gregory van der Weil, so maybe the latter is the new right back target at Newcastle.
All the noises coming out of Lille are that Mathieu should give up on his dream move to Newcastle, and of course the longer this goes on the more it will become real.
Lille manager Luis Garcia has told the player that he cannot now force a move through to Newcastle, although Debuchy has made it very clear that his wish is to move to Tyneside this summer.
This is what Garcia said:
“He doesn’t really have the choice. The club has made a decision and he has to deal with it.” “He also knows he has to be good in the game for his future in the French team. I have no worries about him.”
And after that even their club captain Rio Mavuba came out yesterday and said he had spoken with Mathieu privately, and urged him to stay at the club, even though he knows Mathieu wants to play in football’s top league, where there is also top money – the Premier League.
This is what Rio said:
“I met him and said that I understand his desire to leave.” “But, in fact, I told him that the one thing that I preferred was for him to stay with us. I know that the team is stronger with him.”
It’s hard to read the tea leaves on this one, but we would guess that Newcastle haven’t given up on the French right-back.
But it’s also gone very quiet on the transfer front since Michel Seydoux made his statement last week that Mathieu was no longer for sale, because Newcastle would not bid the price Lille were asking for their 9 times capped French International.
Newcastle may be letting things calm down a little bit before going back to Lille with a new bid – we hope that’s the case.
What do you think?
Comments welcome.
Follow us on Twitter, like us on Facebook, and +1 us on Google+
=============================================
23 comments so far
quitesimple
Aug 7, 2012 at 9:25 AM
Comment #1The only inconsistency is Pardews hesitence to start him every week, he has never failed to impress me in the black and white. I just pray we dont ask him to change his style too much.
REPOST FROM PREVOUS THREAD RE HBA
Beattie25
Aug 7, 2012 at 9:30 AM
Comment #2I said in May that this summer was the most important window in our clubs history.
So far it ranks amongst the worst.
Ibizatoon - Back by popular demand
Aug 7, 2012 at 9:30 AM
Comment #3Quitesimple…..He’s one of the hardest players to decide on how to handle. He has such undeniable talent, if we mold him in to what Pardew wants, will that make his lose some edge or will it make him a complete player?
I agree with you to some extent, but there are clearly games where he is far more influential than others, would be nice to have him at 100% week in week out, but I suppose that is somewhat unrealistic.
On topic…I have no idea what to think about this anymore. It has me stumped.
blew
Aug 7, 2012 at 9:35 AM
Comment #4Another day another Debuchy story. lets have a Dedicated Debuchy Free Day. Its every day for months, move on
WWYCD
Aug 7, 2012 at 9:35 AM
Comment #5Am sure we have moved on and if we havent more fool on us
In relation to HBA we dont know if he has had attitude issues at NUFC (could of been kept in house as Newcastle like to do), last season he sat on the bench for a good while when he was fully fit so we dont know what Pards had to put up with plus this summer he apparently went AWOL from NUFC to appear at a court date that he was not required to be at
The bloke has had issues throughout his career and its naive to think that it would all be rosy as soon as he joined NUFC dealing with it is Pardews job however as is getting the best out of him and I trust him to do that though when he is unable to do so anymore Id rather have a solid manager than a moody player
Markaccus
Aug 7, 2012 at 9:36 AM
Comment #6Frogs want too much, we don’t think he’s worth more than what we offered. Move on, not the end of the world if we don’t get him.
toonarmydownsouth
Aug 7, 2012 at 9:38 AM
Comment #7Quitesimple guess you disnt watch him against brighton fulham and alot if the games around november december time, pardew handeled HBA in a way that made him relise he is not the be all and end all of our squad and if hes not prepared to give %100 or follow instruction you dont play and it clearly worked this is not a new thing for benny every club the lads has played for his ego has got in the way pardew seems to have benny sussed and its working for the team and no1 is bigger than the team
rainrix
Aug 7, 2012 at 9:42 AM
Comment #8Consistency is a hard thing to teach. Even the greatest players can fail to show up in some games. I think pardew has handle HBA spectacularly personally. I mean he’s away with 4 games with france and falls out with the manager and pardew still manages to keep him relatively happy when he wasn’t getting a game for months
Ben3arfa
Aug 7, 2012 at 9:46 AM
Comment #9Garcia is a twat
jayphoto
Aug 7, 2012 at 9:49 AM
Comment #10regarding ben arfa, i think last season in some games he gave some of our performances of the season, but in others, say chelsea at home was probably the worst i saw a toon player play last season! For me he is a lot stronger playing right side of a front 3 rather than wide in a 4-4-2, if he had consistency we’d have the best player bar none in the premier league because his talent is amazing!
jayphoto
Aug 7, 2012 at 9:52 AM
Comment #11just a note on Lille, if theyve said Debuchy has to stay for a season, he will be there until january at the least! They have no problem keeping unhappy players, they usually keep their top players 6 months longer than the players want! I think its safe to say we wont be signing Debuchy! Interesting that Chelsea are about to sign Azpilcueta from Marseille! They were in definite talks with Ajax for Van der wiel and heavily linked with Maicon so its interesting that deal hasnt happent!
bollance
Aug 7, 2012 at 9:52 AM
Comment #12If we were to sign Anita who plays the same positions as perch it will push him down the pecking order and next season could see perch not feature much. We have more games next season but with squad player like perch and raylor, do we need Anita? Is he that much better then what we have? Especially when u think it could take 6 months to bed in.
Klatoon
Aug 7, 2012 at 9:53 AM
Comment #13its always about Debuchy
quitesimple
Aug 7, 2012 at 9:55 AM
Comment #14while I agree with some of your points I have to say even though he can go quiet in games he always has that one little dribble or pass to open up the game
Graeme
Aug 7, 2012 at 9:55 AM
Comment #15If toon are not already looking at other targets for LB & CB then it would almost be negligence on the part of the Management and I do not think it would be the case.
Hopefully we will see 2 first team signings in those positions in the next week, then we can just get on with the footy and whoopin ass again!!
jayphoto
Aug 7, 2012 at 9:56 AM
Comment #16@12 – If we play a 3 man midfield (which with players like marveaux and ben arfa surely should be a must sometimes) then Anita is definately an improvement! He’d take our side up a level as hes the middle ground between tiote and cabaye! very tidy player, never plays it long, very good defensively etc! He’d be a very good link between defense and attack and players like him would stop us banging it 60 yards!
On perchy, think he’ll be 2nd choice right back and tiotes replacement when hes suspended etc, Perch can play that many positions that with the euros etc, he’ll get games!
Belly
Aug 7, 2012 at 9:59 AM
Comment #17I think this is totally dead now. It’s a shame but hey let’s move on. If Simmo leaves we’ve still got Raylor to play a right full back and he’ll do a good job. I can’t see us going after any other full backs to be honest. It all looks a bit bleak on the transfer front.
ilovetoon8788
Aug 7, 2012 at 9:59 AM
Comment #18Arsenal just completed Cazorla switch.
Their signings so far has been top notch. Finally Wenger is splashing the cash.
Cazorla, Giroud, Podolski. WOOO!
And here we are with nothing so far. great.
Valci
Aug 7, 2012 at 10:02 AM
Comment #19That’s the problem with footy these days. You can’t just up and quit as you would with a regular job that you didn’t fancy anymore. However…it seems unfair towards the player because he want to come to NUFC and he has done his duty for Lille over a fair number of years. We’re not talking about a player thats been disloyal or a troublemaker etc. To me this shows total lack of respect for the player. At the moment though i think it’s up to the player himself to see where he stands with his current club before forcing a move in any way.
On the HBA issue. He is a massively talented player with an ego to match. Biggest problem these days imho (and it relates somewhat to the point above) is that fans, media and the footballing industry in general have turned players into superstars rather then employees if you will. Also, due to the necessities of building a footballing career most players forgo higher forms of education which results in them being more or less intellectually challenged… Egos i feel are a direct result of this. In my experience, the dumber the person, the more ego there is. And most football players are definitely underdeveloped intellectually…not because they lack the IQ (so to speak) but because they are “forced” to ignore intellectual development due to their careers. Being a manager at a top club is not easy to be sure… hopefully Pards will get the best out of Benny for a few years at least. I have faith that our manager will make the right choices.
wynsleap
Aug 7, 2012 at 10:12 AM
Comment #20Go on Pardew – get your bid accepted for Van Der Wiel and tell Garcia where to stick it. (I don’t think he’ll be expecting that).
This Debuchy business is running longer than The Mousetrap and quite frankly has gone beyond boredom.
Les Grossman
Aug 7, 2012 at 10:25 AM
Comment #21If Pards can keep HBA grounded, he will have a monster on his hands! The lad loves to play to the crowd, and seems to get on well with all his team mates, which has been a major factor in his past!
HBA doesn’t defend well…..so? Let him do his thing! Probably one of the reasons simmo get so much stick on here, but remember, simmo gets nowhere near the protection santin does on the other wing, hence doesn’t get allowed forward too much! I woul be happy just keeping simmo in his own half, defending and let HBA rampage the length of the pitch!
Dare I say it???? We do t even need debuchy! Give me a decent young RB to challenge simmo…… I’d be happy! Last ill mention debuchy…..it’s now gone beyond boring!!
Munster Mag
Aug 7, 2012 at 12:01 PM
Comment #22Have to agree with Beattie. V poor performance so far by the top brass at NUFC. There can be no denying that we have the money to spend, but is Ashley tryin to turn a profit on transfers again? That tactic will soon cause problems. He loves love to play that card, buying Bigi and Curtis Good and others, and i respect that , and its a good policy, but we need to spend money to move on and progress.
Ian Toon
Aug 7, 2012 at 12:54 PM
Comment #23Valci- just read your post @19 from this morning. You make some interesting points particularly 2 nd paragraph . In many ways the top players almost live in a parallel universe. They are so used to everything other than the mundane being done for them. As for the ego this is my major concern with Mike Ashley. I wonder whether he walks a narrow line between what’s right for the Club and
what’s good for the image of Mike Ashley.. He would doubtless argue that it’s a business decision when it comes to transfer activity.