Fancy a freebie?

Much of the focus over the next few months will be on just who NUFC will be bringing into the club, providing we can secure Premier League football for another season first of course.

For some it will the ultimate indication of where are heading as a football club. If we have a good window then we can look up a little, but if we have another bad window and lose more key players without replacing them then we can safely suggest that the ambition of the club is not to try and climb the league table in the immediate future. That's how I view it anyway.

With a wedge cash to apparently spend, or not if you have that viewpoint, there is a likelihood that we will actually buy some players over the summer months. It's not the only way that Newcastle can get new players into the club though, and there are cheaper options that should at least be looked at first.

You know how it is. You go shopping at Tesco or wherever and you go buying your usual groceries, but you walk past the stuff that is going out of date that day and you just have to have a look. It's human nature, or maybe it's just me? If it is just me then stop being a snob! So with that in mind I've managed to track down a list of players who will be out of contract in the summer. Have a look and see if you fancy any.

Premier League: Manuel Almunia, Luke Young, Nigel Reo-Coker, John Carew, Sebastian Larsson, Lee Bowyer, James McFadden, David Vaughan, Johan Elmander, Jose Boswinga, Zoltan Gera, Danny Murphy, Owen Hargreaves, Michael Owen, William Gallas, Jonathan Woodgate, Marek Cech, Jonas Olsson, Giles Barnes, Rob Green, Jonathan Spector, Matthew Upson, Victor Obinna, David Jones, Michael Kightley.

Now I don't know how accurate that list is, but off the top of my head I can't think of many who have actually signed new deals at their current club. If you know different then please feel free to shout up and correct it. Likewise, if you know of any that have been missed then why not throw their name into the mix?

I've also found some notable players from around Europe that will be out of contract in the summer as well. Take a look.

Europe: Alesandro Nesta, Andrea Pirlo, Anthony Vanden Borre, Banel Nicolita, Hamit Altintop, Luis Garcia, Marek Jankulovski, Mario Santana, Massimo Ambrosini, Miroslav Klose, Oscar Wendt, Phillipe Mexes, Piotr Trochowski, Pippo Inzaghi, Reto Ziegler, Ruud van Nistelrooy, Sylvain Marveaux, Taye Taiwo, Thomas Hubschmann, Tim de Cler, Vicente.

Now there is a fair amount of players from both lists that are over 30 which would certainly lessen their appeal. I'm reluctant to call them old as I'm not too far off them myself, but in terms of football they are getting on a bit.

There are certainly a few that I would consider though. Johan Elamnder would be one, as would Victor Obinna, Hamit Altintop and Taye Taiwo. Whether any of them would come is a different matter entirely of course.

Do any of them float your boat?