Yesterday, Newcastle missed out on Club Brugge striker Wesley Moraes as he signed for Aston Villa for £22.3M. This was a bit of a surprise as recent reports had the Brazilian holding out in the hopes that Newcastle would bring him in.
There was even news recently that he had turned down Lazio to wait for Rafa Benitez’s contract situation to be sorted. So yesterday’s news took a few fans by shock.
It appears that two of our other striker targets are edging closer to moves of their own. Both Jan Hurtado and David Okereke have seen reports of significant developments this week.
Jan Hurtado– Venezuelan striker in demand in Italy
According to Argentinian outlet Eldia, Gimnasia President Gabriel Pellegrino has reportedly just returned from Italy where he was discussing deals for his star forward Jan Hurtado.
The report lists Atalanta, Lazio (who isn’t linked with Lazio exactly), and Sampdoria as the interested parties. It also makes the odd claim that Hurtado was left out of recent Venezuelan friendlies due to him being high demand.
The fee quoted is between €3-5M which is a lot less than the €9M that was reported for Newcastle.
David Okereke– very strong interest from Saints
The David Okereke link to Newcastle is from May and he is an interesting player. He plays for Serie B side Spezia and had an outstanding season for them as the forward/winger had 10 goals and 12 assists last season.
Sassuolo and Southampton are said to be battling it out for Okereke with a report in Tribal Football saying that Southampton are willing to pay €15M for the player.
Their subsequent claim being that this high of a fee would price Sassuolo out of the market for the player. So Southampton are in the lead to sign Okereke and reportedly rate him very highly.
With only Dwight Gayle as an out and out striker currently at Newcastle, Newcastle will need to bring at least two new players at the position this summer.
While both of these players would not be a like for like replacement for Rondon in terms of quality or type, they are both very dynamic and would be good additions for a reasonable fee.
A properly run football club with the resources of Newcastle would acquire Rondon, another player of similar quality, and then a project like Hurtado or Okereke to develop.
It remains to be seen if we will become a properly run football club or if we will still have the albatross of Mike Ashley around this club’s neck.
But time is ticking and hard deadlines are fast approaching. So we should have our answer soon.
93 comments so far
bettyswallocks
Jun 15, 2019 at 12:09 AM
Comment #1Kipper 1…………………. Smoking’s bad for you.
Kipper2………………….. It’s Ok I’ve been cured.
bettyswallocks
Jun 15, 2019 at 12:12 AM
Comment #2I saw a man fishing in a river and asked him if the river was any good for fish. He replied, ” It must be I can’t get any of the phukcers to leave it.”
Essex Geordie Bill
Jun 15, 2019 at 12:17 AM
Comment #3NY Mag
No kippers mate, I’ll get them when the sale is completed. Which at present rate of progress will probably about the same as the half life of Uranium 235. I f i was a real pessimist I’d have said Uranium 238, but I’m a half full glass type of person!
Tsunki
Jun 15, 2019 at 12:18 AM
Comment #4No rob it doesn’t work because SD involvement and certainly any legal tussles it was having would surely be one of the first stumbling blocks of a deal to be dispensed with. The prospective buyers would first be stipulating SD take a running jump and never darken the doorstep again, otherwise there’d be a large chunk of future ad revenue for one thing leaking out the back door.
If we were going by that rationale the Oystons would be forever cemented into the foundations of Blackpool.
Nope the “dodgy owner” thing wouldn’t pan.
NY Mag
Jun 15, 2019 at 12:19 AM
Comment #5Betty,
Very good….you’re brightening up a very dull Friday evening 🙂
Tsunki
Jun 15, 2019 at 12:20 AM
Comment #6And for the good of your health Jib, do two things –
1/ stay away from open solvent containers
2/ Stay away from arguments you can’t Google yourself out of.
RobLeenio
Jun 15, 2019 at 12:22 AM
Comment #7I can’t get my head around these late night posts. Love them, but they take me by surprise every night.
WLToon, I’m convinced it’s happening, but some aren’t. I think there’s been a ton of evidence to say that it is and very little in the way of evidence rather than scepticism to say it isn’t.
For me it boils down to what do the BZG have to gain by lying and if they are lying, why has Ashley not come out and said so? Or Pinsent Mason? Or the FA, the PL, Man City, Sports Direct, Companies House or anyone else?
Tsunki
Jun 15, 2019 at 12:23 AM
Comment #8From Spike Milligan’s “Contagion” –
The Herring is a lucky fish
From all disease inured.
Should he be ill when caught at sea;
Immediately – he’s cured!
shearerclass09
Jun 15, 2019 at 12:23 AM
Comment #9There is no point even mentioning players until either raffa signs a new contract we get sold or Ashley stays and gives a purse of some kind, while all this uncertainty is going on how will anyone sign players? And penfold isn’t great at that without the uncertainty,
NY Mag
Jun 15, 2019 at 12:26 AM
Comment #10Rob,
You have to remember…..the night shift is growing in popularity!!!!
(Watch, I bet toon22 posts next just to shoot me down)
bettyswallocks
Jun 15, 2019 at 12:26 AM
Comment #11Italian Kipper Joke :-
Knock Knock
Who’s There?
Kipper
Kipper Who?
Kipper your hands to yourself.
Tsunki
Jun 15, 2019 at 12:26 AM
Comment #12The only real evidence is a statement by Ashley saying he’s gone and one by the owner saying here you go Senor Benitez, £150m for the biscuit tin. That’s evidence. Not all this hearsay speculative lark.
Essex Geordie Bill
Jun 15, 2019 at 12:26 AM
Comment #13Rob
The days of dual cricket/ football international are long gone. We’ll never see the likes of C B Fry, Willy Watson and Arthur Milton again I doubt.
bettyswallocks
Jun 15, 2019 at 12:27 AM
Comment #14What do you call a fish with no eyes?
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.fsh
NY Mag
Jun 15, 2019 at 12:28 AM
Comment #15Tsunki,
Regardless of what happens….I don’t think they’ll be a statement from Ashley
Tsunki
Jun 15, 2019 at 12:30 AM
Comment #16NY you’re probably right. There’ll be plenty of statements aimed at him though. 🙂
RobLeenio
Jun 15, 2019 at 12:33 AM
Comment #17NY Mag, and long may it continue. It’s not healthy for my sleep patterns, though….
Bill, agreed – though I did like the idea of Usain Bolt starting a footy career after he’d retired from the track. I think footballers and the clubs they represent just have too much to lose on terms of long-term injury. As ever, it comes down to the money.
NY Mag
Jun 15, 2019 at 12:33 AM
Comment #18Tsunki,
That’s very true…. 😀
NY Mag
Jun 15, 2019 at 12:35 AM
Comment #19Fair comment Rob,
But, this is not a school night….so you have a free pass 🙂
Essex Geordie Bill
Jun 15, 2019 at 12:36 AM
Comment #20Rob
Yeah you have to wonder at the injuries that the England cricketers get when they play football as part of their training.
What are the coaches thinking of.
Essex Geordie Bill
Jun 15, 2019 at 12:39 AM
Comment #21Incidentally my joke @3 would have had Sheldon p!ssing himself laughing.
RobLeenio
Jun 15, 2019 at 12:39 AM
Comment #22Tsunki, there’s loads of evidence already out there, which would be admissible in any court. Most compelling is a statement from a prospective buyer detailing a specific timeline to a sale – a very strong piece of evidence which has not been refuted and should have been if it’s false.
I know we’re not going to agree on this, which is cool, I like the debate though others may find it dull.
I know Ashley has screwed us over before too many times to count, but even he must realise this is his last best chance to get out of the club with a profit and make himself some potentially very influential contacts in the Middle East property market, which I feel sure he would see as a very profitable side benefit.
RobLeenio
Jun 15, 2019 at 12:41 AM
Comment #23Bill, I wonder how you reconcile Gaia with nuclear physics?
😛
Essex Geordie Bill
Jun 15, 2019 at 12:42 AM
Comment #24NY Mag
Don’t worry about toon22, he’s ubiquitous.
Essex Geordie Bill
Jun 15, 2019 at 12:44 AM
Comment #25Rob
Not sure about that, it’s unclear physics to me! 🙂
NY Mag
Jun 15, 2019 at 12:44 AM
Comment #26Oh Bill,
Don’t tell me you’re a Sheldon disciple?
RobLeenio
Jun 15, 2019 at 12:45 AM
Comment #27Just on topic with the article (for a change lately for me) is it possible that agents of strikers linked with NUFC are suddenly moving their clients to other clubs because we’ve made an agreement in principle to sign a different striker?
And, no, I’m not talking about Gareth Bale. Though it would be nice…..
Essex Geordie Bill
Jun 15, 2019 at 12:46 AM
Comment #28Betty/ Tsunki
I never can find the Tim Vine joke book, in charity shops, could I borrow yours? 😉
NY Mag
Jun 15, 2019 at 12:46 AM
Comment #29ubiquitous Or amphibious?
Anyway, doesn’t matter – soon to be extinct!!
Ace50
Jun 15, 2019 at 12:47 AM
Comment #30Rob / NY Mag – the conclusions you have come to marry up with what I have been told. As I say, the only thing that can mess this up is Ashley. That is why we are all on tenterhooks. The sooner this happens the better as everyone is soooooo frustrated
Essex Geordie Bill
Jun 15, 2019 at 12:48 AM
Comment #31NY Mag
What you mean the geeks superhero, who isn’t?
RobLeenio
Jun 15, 2019 at 12:49 AM
Comment #32Lol ‘unclear physics’ is a good one. I got the gist of your joke, stopped short of googling half lives of uranium atoms. Assumed one was very long, the other veeeerrrrrryyyy loooooonnnnngggggg.
NY Mag
Jun 15, 2019 at 12:49 AM
Comment #33Rob,
I would love to think that we have signings lined up that we are going to announce all at once……but I just cant see it.
We need to get this #sheikhover over line ASAP…..and then hit the ground running
ronaldo aarons
Jun 15, 2019 at 12:50 AM
Comment #34Lejuene is a beast.
Crossbar challenge?
Completed it!
https://mobile.twitter.com/DobbySolanoNUFC/status/1139656908967751680
NY Mag
Jun 15, 2019 at 12:52 AM
Comment #35Bill,
Yeah, I was trying to play that down to see what you said……..I’m a proper fan of Sheldon – but that ‘blonde’ takes some beating 🙂
RobLeenio
Jun 15, 2019 at 12:54 AM
Comment #36Ace50, cheers mate, I’ve seen you posting snippets here and there, are you able to say how you’re connected?
I think we all just want to see the back of Ashley and asap, now. Of course, we’ll have to stand a long way away to get him in our field of vision, but still.
Essex Geordie Bill
Jun 15, 2019 at 12:55 AM
Comment #37NY Mag
I think we all probably had the hots for Penny, Penny, Penny, Penny, Penny, Penny!
NY Mag
Jun 15, 2019 at 12:57 AM
Comment #38Ace50,
I have absolutely no insider knowledge whatsoever….I only look at the evidence in front of me (not from journos, not from twitter)
No self respecting lawyer (from pinsent masons) would advise anyone to setup a holding company until it was necessary…and by that I mean that the final transfer of private equity is in progress
Ace50
Jun 15, 2019 at 12:59 AM
Comment #39Lejeune is def a beast! Injuries have been so harsh on him
NY Mag
Jun 15, 2019 at 1:00 AM
Comment #40Yes, bill
If only I were 20 years younger………………………………..I still wouldn’t stand a chance 🙂