Is Cheik Tiote heading for the St James' park exit door?

Where oh where is Cheik Tiote? He is of course injured, apparently. Or is he?

Call me cynical, paranoid even, but to me it just seems as though there is something not quite right with Cheik Tiote.

To me it smacks of the whole Andy Carroll scenario again. Cast your minds back. Remember Carroll was injured and was 'touch and go' for quite a few games before he finally packed his bags and trotted off to Liverpool. With Tiote training well then not training then being available then not being available and not training all week it kind of gets me all jittery and leaves me wondering if we're heading down a familiar path once again.

Interest from Chelsea doesn't exactly calm my nerves either, much like Alan Pardew's words from last weekend where he effectively said that if any player leaves it's going to be for mega money. There then is this that is printed in The Observer today.

"You're talking about Newcastle United – nothing is certain here. We could lose one of our great players, who knows? Some of the financial decisions are taken out of my hands," said Pardew when asked about the same of any of of his key players in January.

"I want to strengthen in one or two areas but we'll have to be on our guard against one of our best players going when the window opens. You can never think you're OK. I learned that in my days at West Ham, but the Andy Carroll thing brought that home more vividly than most things."

I really do hope that I'm just being paranoid about the whole thing, but a look at the form book is enough to make me feel, shall we say, pensive, about the whole thing. It gets back to the whole question of ambition. Do we have ambition to build a team that is affordable and can run from within our current income? Or do we sell yet again and start from scratch?

My Dad thinks I'm bonkers for thinking this, but I just can't help thinking there is something amiss. Like he pointed out, would Tiote be shielded from a potential injury so far away from the January window? Probably not, but this is Newcastle United and common sense is a rare commodity.

Does anyone else think it's a bit fishy?