Double defensive boost for Magpies?

Newcastle could be handed a double defensive boost as the January transfer window starts to wind down.

With just eight days of the window remaining Alan Pardew is still searching for defensive reinforcements although it is being reported that a defender is now the top priority and should arrive before the window closes.

The rumour regarding FC Twente's Douglas Franco Teixeira is doing the rounds again with claims that a fee in the region of £4.5m would be enough to secure the services of the 24-year-old year old defender who is out of contract in the summer.

Adrian Mariappa was linked with us in the Sunday Sun yesterday although I'm personally unconvinced by the 25-year-old. At a rumoured £3m, I personally think we could get a better defender for that price. I mean he's 25 now and hasn't been touted by any other Premier League club so you just have to ask, why?

Whoever the new defender is the one thing he must have in his locker is pace. Fabricio Coloccini isn't the fastest and Mike Williamson is a bit slower than that so by bringing in a defender which a bit of pace it would give us another string to our defensive bow.

In other news I see Fabricio Coloccini's agent is due into Newcastle to, hopefully, sort out a new deal for his client. Now Coloccini had a ropey game on Saturday, as did all of our defence to be fair, but all players will have off days and he is still one of our most important players. A new deal for our our Argentinian Captain is a must. We have to keep him.

The signs are positive. I don't expect to see any players bleating on about our lack of ambition this time around for example, not now they've seen just what these younger, cheaper models are capable of. We're also set for a top half finish, maybe even higher if we can carry on what we've been doing for the bulk of the season which would mean that the next step up to Europe isn't too far away. Well, in theory anyway...

So a double defensive boost involving a new player and the retention of one of our current stalwarts?

That'll do for me!