Two in and one out at Newcastle?

There is some interesting little titbits emanating from the local rags today with regard to summer transfer developments at Newcastle.

First off are the rumours about Joey Barton being a transfer target for West Ham in the summer. The Chronicle states that The Hammers are looking to reignite their interest in the player, although given that the West Ham link first came to light in the January transfer window I'm unsure whether or not to mark this one down as a rehash.

It's been said many times before, but I'll say it again - Barton has been largely excellent for us this season. I wouldn't want to lose him as he finally repaying the faith, and considerable sums of money, that have been invested in him by NUFC. When Barton plays well, we tend to play well and it would be a shame if we did end up losing him to West Ham.

I actually don't think he will go to be honest, although I'm crossing fingers with that assumption. The fact is that a new contract was all but sorted between the player and the club, but then it wasn't sorted for whatever reason and now we find ourselves in the situation where Barton can pretty much pick and choose what he wants to do.

If the club show a bit of ambition and reinvest the bulk of the Andy Carroll money then it may persuade Barton to stay, which is why it's nice to read The Journal suggesting that deals are "virtually in place" for two "international" players to join the ranks at St James' Park once survival is assured.

Both Alan Pardew and Graham Carr have said that the club are already out and about and are looking at deals, so hopefully that lends a bit of credence to the rumour for these unnamed players. The very fact that they are unnamed means that we can have a bit of fun and speculate as to just who they might be.

Whilst Ed's deluded love affair with Seb Larsson continues, I'd like to offer reasons why it won't be him. First off you can't agree a deal with a player who plays in the same country until they have one month left on their contract. With overseas players you can sign a pre-contract agreement six months before their deal is due to end, but the rule is different when it comes to domestic players, although I'm sure that little rule won't stop people from talking behind closed doors!

To me that would seem to suggest that these two "international" players are from an overseas league, and before anyone even mentions Stephen Ireland please be aware that he is not an international. Not any more anyway!

So who do you think these players could be? We've apparently been out and about in Europe, especially France, so could it be some of these players that we've heard about, like Gervinho or Kevin Gameiro for example? Or is this just a PR exercise from the club in a bid to boost season ticket renewals?

Let's face it, it wouldn't be the first time would it? I mean does anyone remember Keegan talking about breaking transfer records? That ended up well. Call me cynical, but until the club demonstrate differently I'll refuse to believe differently. There may well be no truth in this, or there could be some truth, who knows?

The proof of that pudding won't arrive until the summer though.