Simpson happy to stay at Newcastle
Danny Simpson has reiterated his desire to stay at Newcastle, although he admits that it could take some time to sort out a new deal.
Simpson returns to Old Trafford for the first time since he left three-and-a-half years ago this weekend and claims that it would be nice to prove a point to Sir Alex Ferguson.
Perhaps more importantly however he will be wanting to prove a point to NUFC who appear to be using the sledgehammer approach to contract negotiations once more. A new deal has been mentioned for some time now and with Simpson only having 18 months of his current deal remaining time is starting to become an issue. The longer it drags on the more likely it is that Simpson will go elsewhere in my opinion.
The problem, as ever, appears to be wages. Danny Simpson wants parity with the likes of Steven Taylor according to his agent and obviously the club don't feel that he is worth that. It would appear the two parties will need to find some middle ground if a deal is to be concluded although Simpson is keen to extend his time at St James' Park.
“I’m happy here and they want me to stay but contracts don’t get sorted overnight,” Simpson told Alan Brazil's Sports Breakfast earlier.
He continued: “My family is here and it’s a great time to be here. The city is buzzing and I think our form can continue. We think we can go to Old Trafford and get something, we took a lot of confidence from the Manchester City game."
“I think we’ve done well and we don’t want to stop. We have targets, we want to keep going and we are confident we can go to Old Trafford and try to win.”
Alan Pardew is keen for the former Manchester United man to stay but it appears that his patience is running out a bit with Simpson. He said:
“We’ve made Danny an offer which I think is a good offer, if I’m honest. Like everything it’s very difficult to understand value when you’re a young player. You see other players at other football clubs and you hear rumours, etc etc."
“I think Danny should commit to the football club because he’s done terrifically well here and the one thing I do know about young players in the Premier League, you can get lost quite quickly."
“He doesn’t want to do that, he’s found himself a nice berth in the club. He’s keeping out Davide Santon, who we’ve paid very good money for; he’s a new father, he’s doing particularly well."
“Sometimes the grass isn’t always greener and I would advise him to get his contract done ASAP. Danny needs to remember he’s playing and getting valuable experience in the best defence in the Premier League.”
I really don't know where I stand on this. One one hand I can see Simpson's point about getting a decent payrise. On the other I disagree that he is worth the same as someone like Steven Taylor who has played Premier League football for a number of years. Plus there is that fact for me anyway, that Simpson is easily replaceable and it wouldn't be too hard to source a younger, cheaper..... You get the point.
To me Simpson seems to have a very high opinion of himself. I watch him on Twitter 'rewtweeting' any mention of him and England, like he genuinely believes he should be there. Not a chance. He may be the fourth, fifth or whatever best English right-back, but it sounds less impressive when you realise that there are only five or six in the league. He won't get in ahead of Glen Johnson, Micah Richards or Kyle Walker anyway.
In the grand scheme of things this is just another game of contract cat and mouse and whilst I don't really agree with Alan Pardew bringing it into the public domain it's worth pointing out that it was only done AFTER Simpson's agent did much the same thing. One thing is for sure, and that is that Danny Simpson should look at the form book.
If he does he will see that he won't get things all his own way.
