January Transfer Window 2014

First topic message reminder :

Same here hammersmith, the plastic fans drive me crazy! In 2003 i could count the amount of city/chelsea fans i knew on 1 hand, now its like an epidemic!

Rumours we've made a bid for Clement Grenier this morning, possible replacement for Cabaye.

Also, reports that Remy has already decided to not stay past the summer with the club, as he wants to return to Champions League football.

This is what I was fearing & talking about. We have to think about the long term now. We need to sell Cabaye & use that money to re-invest in summer recruits because we are going to need two new strikers it would appear & money for Coloccini's replacement.

He can only sign a pre contract abroad.

All you need in the Championship to stand out is technical ability. Lansbury, Reid and Vaughan are a class above in that division

David Ngog joins Swansea for undisclosed fee. I don't get that one.

David Ngog   

Why o why are Swansea signing a failed Championship striker.

NickisBHAFC wrote:David Ngog   

Why o why are Swansea signing a failed Championship striker.

Michu's injury problems worse that first thought?

The annual West Ham Graham Dorrans link has arrived. Bit late this window, clearly a slow day

Oh my. What a waste of a breath. Thought these journalists would have had enough with all the other Cabaye/Salah/Mata/Draxler deals etc that are flowing through. but, I suppose they have to keep it fair for everyone. But at least make it worthwhile?

Michu injury prone I'm guessing, but it's just back-up so it might take the pressure off Bony to supply them with goals or even partner him. Only needs a 2nd chance, might do well this time. Not a bad signing for Swansea.

Ngog is awful!!! Why o why did swansea sign him?!

Au revoir Yohan Cabaye. Deal agreed between PSG & Newcastle. Great player, fantastic servant but he deserves to play Champions League football. We also need the money to rebuild in the summer.

PSG are going through the home player phase

GSC wrote:He can only sign a pre contract abroad.

All you need in the Championship to stand out is technical ability. Lansbury, Reid and Vaughan are a class above in that division

I thought that was the rule GSC but the Lewandowski deal to Munich confused me somewhat, can only assume it's a FA rule rather than a UEFA or FIFA rule?

I believe it has to do with U.K law or something

John wrote:Au revoir Yohan Cabaye. Deal agreed between PSG & Newcastle. Great player, fantastic servant but he deserves to play Champions League football. We also need the money to rebuild in the summer.

reports are that it is in excess of 20 million, great deal for newcastle.

Cabaye was their best player though in my opinion but at the end of the day they had to sell him sooner or later and got a good deal for him and I am sure the guy is happy going to the league leaders and playing Paris.

Champagne_Socialist wrote:

John wrote:Au revoir Yohan Cabaye. Deal agreed between PSG & Newcastle. Great player, fantastic servant but he deserves to play Champions League football. We also need the money to rebuild in the summer.

reports are that it is in excess of 20 million, great deal for newcastle.

Initially £19m according to the BBC.

Newcastle really need to place him this window imo.

I'm surprised Newcastle are signing de Jong. He's hardly torn up the Bundesliga.

Big loss but expected. Cabella already done deal to,replace him in the.summer I.think.

In the meantime... Sisoko, Anita, Ben arfa, will need to create and we'll keep rolling out shola...pah

Look, its a great deal for the club, the best we could expect. He would only of stayed until the summer & we probably would of got £15m max because of age n contract. In the short term it will hurt us, however, Ashley n Pardew had to think long term n the vision for the club n how we can now finance replacements.

Surprised about De Jong, woeful in Germany. Is it permanent or a loan swap with Cisse? It seems Cabella is the other deal in the pipeline followed by one or two others in the summer.

Thanks for memories Yohan, fantastic player. Bet Olly is celebrating though tonight.

Don't understand the De Jong thing either.

Cabella could be a cracker and is Yohans replacement.

Then no doubt a few more French players at the £2-4m mark.

I'd like to see big Sisoko playing more centrally now though over Anita. He's wasted out on the wing

newcastle need to get valbuena from marseille. Could get him for about 10 mil and he is quality.

Cabaye tears us up then leaves.

Ze transfer window, eet is not fair, sacre bleu!

Valbuena is 29 or 30 nowadays, time has past for him. Cabella, from what I've seen is a winger in the mould of Ben Arfa. I don't see him being the replacement for Cabaye in all honesty. Clement Grenier is a more natural no.10 playing through the middle.

Pardew probably wants this

- - - - - - - - - De Jong- - - - - -

Gouffran- - - - -Grenier- - - - -Cabella

- - - - - - -Tiote- - - -Sissoko- - - - - -

Reports that Remy won't commit in the summer, therefore De Jong seems the long term striker, if he impresses on the loan.

I've just heard about the Cattermole to Stoke rumour. I thought Hughes wanted to make Stoke more appealing & attractive to watch.   

having watched stoke at chelsea think i preferred to watch pullis' stoke, at least that team would pressurize opponents and make the most out of throw ins and corners. this team does absolutely nothing, yes they might play few nicer passes through the back but are meaningless going forward, never work defence or keeper all game, something which pullis' team would always do. never rated hughes as a manager

It was against Chelsea though.

Cabaye my lover,
Cabaye my friend.
Yohan been the one,
Yohan been the one for me.

^The internet is full of fun

How many years have Arsenal been linked to Gourcouff for? It must be at least 5.

8 years Juan. We wanted him before he joined Milan in 2006.

The Special Juan wrote:How many years have Arsenal been linked to Gourcouff for?  It must be at least 5.

Here's something from 2007!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/2328220/Arsenal-line-up-move-for-Yoann-Gourcuff.html

8 years!!? That's 16 transfer windows.... Cheers for the link Duty, it's funny to see him being talked about as a 21 year-old!!

Could be 9 then Juan

He's 19 in this one http://www.skysports.com/story/0,,11670_2374652,00+en-USS_01DBC.html

Joe Kinnear looking an inspired hire, getting 20m for a kebab

Fernando wrote:Could be 9 then Juan

He's 19 in this one http://www.skysports.com/story/0,,11670_2374652,00+en-USS_01DBC.html

That's brilliant.

The transfer window is unfair.

Cardiff , west ham and hull have all signed. Yet no one has come to palace..

  

compelling and rich wrote:having watched stoke at chelsea think i preferred to watch pullis' stoke, at least that team would pressurize opponents and make the most out of throw ins and corners. this team does absolutely nothing, yes they might play few nicer passes through the back but are meaningless going forward, never work defence or keeper all game, something which pullis' team would always do. never rated hughes as a manager

This. Stoke's entire tactics on Sunday appeared to be based around not conceding too many goals. Their attempts at passing the ball around were poor at best, and it seemed to take them basically until injury time at the end of the game to think "hold on, we're still in this, let's get some bodies forward and actually try to score".

On a side note, was impressed by Matic. Seems to have good strength but also good technical ability, of course this won't be his biggest challenge, far from it, but I think we've signed a good player there.

You think it was bad watching a team do that on Sunday then I suggest you dont watch the game tomorrow

Shows the lack of ambition Newcastle have in selling out best player. Sadly under Ashley, with his buy low sell high policy, we will never be anything other than a mid table team.

Its a business model that a lot of clubs have to follow. Spurs do it too, its about investing well afterwards.

Please, please, please, Michael Owen. Stop saying "that/this man". He's almost as bad as Niall Quinn.

Wrong thread*

It's what the majority of teams do, not sure how Newcastle can turn down an offer like that, does show how inflated prices have become. Seven years ago we bought Carrick for £18mil and he was much younger and at a bigger team, do wonder how expensive players from ten years ago would be today.

Dolphin Ziggler wrote:Its a business model that a lot of clubs have to follow. Spurs do it too, its about investing well afterwards.

Spurs most certainly do not follow our model. And Ashley won't reinvest. It'll stay in his back pocket like the Carroll transfer fee.

He gambles as much as he can with out fight for survival. He won't reinvest.

Lumbering_Jack wrote:Shows the lack of ambition Newcastle have in selling out best player. Sadly under Ashley, with his buy low sell high policy, we will never be anything other than a mid table team.

nothing wrong with being a mid table club, not sure what it is with newcastle fans always thinking there bigger than they are. yes you have a big ground with good attendance but sponsorship money, world wide merchandising and corporate your comfortably behind a lot of the teams above. dont mind a bit of ambition but this is from a club that was in the championship not long ago. being where you are at the moment is perfectly acceptable. its very very hard to break into the top 4 unless you get a city or chelsea owner.

get your club settled in the prem earning profit then you can start investing in the team a bit more, but even then shed loads of investment isnt always the answer. look at spurs

compelling and rich wrote:

Lumbering_Jack wrote:Shows the lack of ambition Newcastle have in selling out best player. Sadly under Ashley, with his buy low sell high policy, we will never be anything other than a mid table team.

nothing wrong with being a mid table club, not sure what it is with newcastle fans always thinking there bigger than they are. yes you have a big ground with good attendance but sponsorship money, world wide merchandising and corporate your comfortably behind a lot of the teams above. dont mind a bit of ambition but this is from a club that was in the championship not long ago. being where you are at the moment is perfectly acceptable. its very very hard to break into the top 4 unless you get a city or chelsea owner.

get your club settled in the prem earning profit then you can start investing in the team a bit more, but even then shed loads of investment isnt always the answer. look at spurs

Do you hear me complaining. No. Lumbering, why are you so surprised at the dealings of our club? You clearly don't understand the club, how it's been run for years & our transfer policy & model. Cabaye had to be sold. End of. If you don't understand that, then there is no hope. We don't have a billionaire owner, willing to throw ridiculous amounts of money at the club, instead he works within a financial means, whereby we use an excellently assembled scouting system to bring in quality players at a cheaper rate, improve them & then sell for a considerable profit. We can't compete effectively with the top clubs & that is generally accepted by knowledgeable fans.

As for re-investing, Pardew has come out & said the money will be spent in this window. We can only judge in the next three or four days the outcome & whether or not De Jong, Cabella or Grenier etc join the club.

For me selling cabaye is all about where they stand in the season.

Impossible to go down, impossible to get into the CL.

therefore what do you do. lose 20m by keeping him and pushing for 6th place or take the money and try and replace with a couple of younger ones in the summer and at worst finish 10th?

We don't aspire to be anything more than mid-table. What's the point in settling for mediocrity.

I'll ignore the armchair fan.

I think your point is valid as a fan Jack. I think you get the wrong end of the stick on here pal.. Nothing wrong with wanting to be a top side again.. But at the moment you are not and penetrating the top 6 or so is a monumental task and doesn't hinge on players like cabaye

Cabeye is our best player so it does hinge on him to a certain degree. There is a reason one of the top teams in Europe has come in for him... It's because he is genuine quality.

Money talks and if you want to retain the best players you need to pay the wages. Doubtful any of our squad will earn over 50k once the last of the old guard leave.

There is a very clear top six in the league and breaking inside that is a very difficult task, Everton have been doing well but I expect them to start falling away a bit now. All of those teams can spend in excess of £30mil on a player and not blink an eye about doing it, three of those teams could easily spend £100mil in a season. Without major investment champions league football is an unrealistic dream.

what I mean is it hinges on money not individual players.

I think we all knew Newcastle's long game plan when you signed pardew on a ten year deal..

You wanted stability for an extended period

[/quote]

We can only judge in the next three or four days the outcome & whether or not De Jong, Cabella or Grenier etc join the club.[/quote]

I would happily take all three, De Jong will join and Cabella will come in the summer as Montpellier want to keep him, apparently the transfer fee's 12 million so surely another million or so would make Montpellier let him go a bit earlier, though given their dire position in Ligue 1 it's perhaps not a surprise. Grenier I don't know so much about, but Lyon are in great form at the moment and he is one of the main reasons plus he will be desperate to cement his place in France's world cup squad so he won't lack motivation.

Seen Grenier quiet alot playing in Europe, looks the perfect Cabaye replacement & the natural no.10, as I showed in the formation in a previous post. Cabella is Ben Arfa`s replacement, it just hasn't worked out with Hatem. Similar to Mata situation, if you don't work for the team, then you get shipped out. De Jong is just a toss of the coin, in terms of being a success. Hopefully, his lack of goals n game time, means he`s hungry for success. Remy being banned for a while also means De Jong needs to hit the ground running.

As for people doubting that Ashley would reinvest, this just shows how wrong they were. We can focus on long term development of the team, not a six month period, whereby Cabaye would of left us anyway & for a cheaper price.