Routledge off to QPR again?

Wayne Routledge looks set to rejoin his former club, QPR, on a loan deal until the end of the season.

There had been speculation suggesting that a move could be on the cards, and that speculation apppears to be coming true as Routledge looks to be heading South to aid QPR in their push for the Premier League. He will be fantastic at that, as he was for us last season, but it does leave us looking rather light on the wings at the moment.

I think it's fair to say that Routledge is not a Premier League winger, which is strange considering he has pace to burn, can cross a ball and can shoot as he demonstrated last season. When Routledge joined us he was immense and really helped to push us across the finishing line. He assisted loads of goals and added balance to the team in the run in.

Still, this isn't the first chance that he has had at trying his hand at Premier League football. He has tried, and failed, at Fulham, Tottenham and Aston Villa previously, and it looks as though he can add Newcastle to his list of failed attempts at Premier League football.

I still like the lad, and if he can get his head right and start playing with the confidence to run at and run past people he could still be a Premier League player in the future. A player with that much pace will always be a threat, if they have the confidence and knowledge to use it well.

Yoda moment over, the attention will no doubt turn towards who we are going to get in as a replacement. The fact that Routledge is apparently being allowed out on loan would suggest that Newcastle have something in the pipeline, or it could just as easily point towards Dan Gosling returning to fitness. To me that is unlikely though as Pardew has always maintained throughout this window that he is looking for a winger.

Rumours of players like Shaun Wright-Phillips and Adel Taarabt will no doubt surface now, although time will tell if we are actually looking for a replacement or whether we'll just stick with Joey Barton, with Dan Gosling as cover, for the rest of the season. I have a feeling that something is in the pipeline though, but time will tell if my gut feeling is right.

Anyway, nothing is confirmed yet and the only real source is the infamous Sky source, although Wayne Routledge did post on his Twitter earlier suggesting that something was up when he said "Why does January cause so much chaos… #sighhhh". Make of that what you will.

Now we'll just have to see what happens!