Zaha eyed as Maiga move on verge of collapse

Modibo Maiga's move to Newcastle is sensationally on the verge of collapsing after the striker failed a medical according to his agent.

Reports in France suggest that Newcastle are unhappy over the physical condition of the player and not even a second opinion will convince them otherwise. It now looks as though the move has been shelved.

Now call me a cynical old Hector, again. But if Maiga is failing a Newcastle medical then I would be very concerned if I was him. Perhaps he's only got one leg or is on the verge of death? I'm sure you have to be that injured to fail a Newcastle medical. Remember, this is the club who somehow managed to pass Stephan Ireland through a medical, and Demba Ba, and Sylvain Marveaux... You get the point?

The point being that there must be something seriously wrong with Maiga for us to not go through with it. It just doesn't sit right with me and it seems as though there is a rabbit away somewhere. Think about it. Why did we ensure the medical was done early? When have we ever done that? When does anyone do that in fact?

I have two trains of thought on this one. The first is that it will be used as a bargaining chip for Newcastle who will try and lower the price for Maiga. The second one being that there just may be someone else lined up, some a bit better or a bit more value for example.

Speaking of players who are not exactly value although we have been linked with, the Daily Mail are linking us with a £10m January move for Crystal Palace's highly-rated 19-year-old striker Wilfried Zaha.

Now hand on heart I really can't see Mike Ashley spending £10m on a player who has zero top level experience. the Ivory Coast born England U19 international has made 62 appearances for Palace scoring just three goals in his time, which is far from prolific but then again he is still very young.

I really don't think we'll turn our attention to Zaha after the seeming collapse of the Maiga deal. Not a chance. And at the rumoured £10m I'd be quite happy of that. What I can see is a deal being struck for Maiga still with perhaps a lower fee or a more structured payment deal where Sochaux get more money based on various strings attached to the deal.

Time will tell...