Polarboy

Everton have supposedly set a price of 50m for DCL. Given how much English players are usually overpriced, this seems not that bad while still probably being about 5 to 10m overpriced. We might end up being thankful that DCL had a terrible season with injuries, Everton had such a bad season, and subsequently desperately need money to rebuild. On the negative side he has his own line in handbags 😑😂

With £30m Ekitike deal agreed, Newcastle can now sign 20-goal striker too (hitc.com) A Russian U21 striker 😂 In for a penny in for a pound in terms of bad publicity from the media if this is in any way accurate. Not that Russian citizens should all be tarred with the brush of their states actions in any case. The Wimbledon thing was ridiculous. But obviously the media will use any ammunition they can get against us.

Exclusive: Eddie Howe set for face-to-face talks with Premier League playmaker | NUFC blog – Newcastle United blog – NUFC Fixtures, News and Forum. I'd definitely take Eriksen, especially seeing as it would be on a free. It's a no brainer really, he's got that intelligence, creativity, guile and cutting edge that we're missing in midfield. Hopefully there's some substance to these reports.

https://www.nufcblog.co.uk/2022/06/07/newcastle-in-talks-to-sign-croatian-international-club-willing-to-sell-for-17m/ Don't know much about him given I don't watch the Austrian Bundesliga, but supposedly he helped turn the game between Croatia and France when he came on the other night. Left footed, says Modric is his idol, and his style of play has been compared to Modric. Still only 19 so he could have a very high ceiling of potential. If Ekitike gets confirmed the ideal situation of course would be for both of them to break into the first team next season.

Sarr is the back up to Diaby if you believe Sky, and supposedly Watford are willing to take a sensible offer given their relegation, and the fact that Sarr is into the last two years of his contract. If Leverkusen really are asking for 60+ then Sarr could be a decent alternative if we can get him for 25-35. Sarr at least knows the league, he's still young at 24, and in a decent team I think he could at least approach double figures for both goals and assists if you look at his record for Watford in the PL.

Newcastle continue talks with Man Utd over Dean Henderson (90min.com) According to reports we've agreed terms with Henderson and all that's left it to either negotiate a price, or persuade Man U to allow us to take him on loan for the season, most likely so we can spread costs. I can't see Man U being too accommodating given how they seemed to act over Lingard, but perhaps Ten Hag backs himself and isn't worried about us getting ahead of them. Even still though I'd imagine they'll want a fee to supplement their own kitty for Ten Hag's squad rebuild. If we can get a top class keeper like Henderson, who's only just turned 25, for around the twenty million mark that's discussed in the article, then it will be a great bit of business. I'm not convinced that he's a level or two above Dubravka, but he's certainly as good as, so the competition between the two could keep both on their toes.

Mark Douglas has contradicted Keith Downie and has said that we want at least one more striker in after Ekitike, should that deal be finalised. From what I've seen of Douglas he doesn't tend to make definitive statements unless he actually knows something, and I'd tend to trust him a lot more over some of the stuff Downie comes away with, but perhaps someone can tell me different. It's an interesting one if Howe intends to keep playing with one up top, which most teams do nowadays. If you have Wilson, Wood, Ekitike, and one other you wonder how they'll all get enough minutes. Wood probably won't be that hard to handle, he'll probably not kick up too much of a fuss, Wilson will unfortunately likely be injured for a long stretch at some point, but both Ekitike and presumably whoever else we bring in won't want to be farting about being an understudy to Wilson, waiting for him to get injured. Ekitike can play out wide as well of course.

Can't see Cavani wanting to share the number 9 spot with Wilson after the time he had at Man U, especially given his age. He'll want to be the main man and guaranteed starter.

Hasn't signed yet, and obviously YouTube compilations can make anyone look special, but his first touch is undeniably decent, to put it mildly.

Well the good thing about Ekitike is that he can play off the left as well as at CF, so it could be ASM getting the hump next season. I suspect Ekitike will be introduced slowly, but will probably get plenty of minutes either starting ahead of ASM or standing in for Wilson. There's even the option of playing Wilson off the right and Ekitike up front, given Wilson is more than capable of playing wide right in a front three. Having two strikers that can also play out wide would give us some great versatility. If we signed someone like Jesus as well, but according to Downie we won't, it would given Howe numerous options and attacking configurations.

Looks like I was correct in that we'd only be buying one striker in that rough price range, not that it's rocket science, if indeed Downie has his facts straight. Again it's worrying how much we could find ourselves relying on Ekitike at certain points next season if he's our main and sole central striking target. Of course I'm sure Eddie will want more goals from midfield as well from whoever we get, be that Diaby or whomever else.

If this is true it would be nice if that article from a while back was right, and we're getting him on loan for a year with an obligation to buy at the price agreed. He's got potential, if you believe those in the know about French football, but we could definitely do with a more established striker to supplement Wilson and Wood given the former's injury record and the latter's profligacy in front of goal. I just can't see our budget stretching to two 30m+ strikers when we need to improve a number of areas in the team, even if the club is trying to play down our spending power so we don't get our pants pulled down.

I hear they were also playing football with a Cockapoo at the time. Right wrongun.

Just in case it actually happens 😀👍Looks like he can shoot with either foot, so he's already got one up on ASM in that respect.

Maldini seems to be distancing Milan from a move for Botman, so that could be another sign he's on his way to us. He said that Milan had followed Botman, but that there were many good players in that position. I say distanced, but perhaps the strong links between Botman and Milan were mostly agent/paper talk.

Newcastle United make new moves for Sven Botman and Moussa Diaby | The Northern Echo Ashworth in as director, along with Botman and Diaby as our first signings would be a very nice start to the summer. As for Diaby playing in the same position or being similar to ASM, Diaby played predominantly on the right for Leverkusen last season according to Transfermarkt, and his numbers stand him out as much more clinical than ASM has ever been in his career. Having a winger who seems to be comfortable on either flank is a great asset.

26m for a 29 year old who'll likely be on massive wages, and according to some has a mistake in him. I was always of the opinion that it would be better if we got someone who was 25 or under like a Botman. Of course last I heard he in particular was on his way to AC.

I'd imagine that Pep will want to keep Jesus regardless of them signing Haaland. Then again it is a world cup year, so Jesus might be motivated to find a new club and not be Haaland's understudy. Of course it could be the case that Mahrez gets moved on in the summer and Jesus is given his slot on the right. Pep did say that he see's Jesus as more of forward than someone who can lead the line as a centre forward. Or maybe it was Jesus that said that about himself.

If we could get north of 40m for ASM I'd drive him myself. Assuming all this having to play within FFP pragmatism, selling to buy craic isn't just us trying to dampen expectations and not get ripped off, then ASM as our most saleable asset can go. He was right in that he'd likely have a few more assists if Wood wasn't so shite, but even with Wilson in the side he's not a player that the top six would be falling over themselves to buy, and I don't think he ever will be. There's only so many times a coach can tell a player to get his head up, and try to coach them into making better decisions in terms when to release the ball and when to drive into the box. His attitude is also suspect despite his undoubted talent at social media and bringing the fans onside. Players like Lingard and Sarr would almost certainly have much more end product. Paqueta and others without PL experience of course are a bit more of a gamble. Even Fraser could be moved permanently to the left for next season, given how well he performed out there for us in ASM's absence earlier this season.

Revealed! Details of Newcastle United’s training ground upgrade - and how it will actually look | NewcastleWorld Encouraging to hear that they aren't happy to wait until the new training ground is built, and prefer to make Benton as good as it possibly can be until said training facility is built.

https://www.nufcblog.co.uk/2022/05/04/newcastle-now-the-favourites-to-sign-exciting-ac-milan-forward-this-summer-report/

As I said a few months ago you'll see more propaganda than during a full scale war for Lampard should Everton go down. His mates in the media will be falling over themselves to point out how shite the Everton owner is, how much money they've spent on shite players etc. They'll have a point to a degree, but a) Lampard has still done shite, so far at least but it would need to be some turnaround now, and b) if it were someone not part of their clique they'd hammer him almost as much as the owner.

Again this is off the top of my head, but wasn't it 90mins that pretty much broke the Ekitike story? If nothing else perhaps they have some sort of inside track on that. Of course they may just be assuming that we will go back in for players that we already have on loan or we tried to get in January. The most interesting part of the story is the initial loan with an obligation to buy for Ekitike detail. Again that would be a shrewd move in terms of maximising our budget, should it be true.