Newcastle look at Kalou as free transfer scramble hots up

Newcastle are said to be interested in signing Chelsea attacker Saloman Kalou if reports in the Daily Mail are to be believed.

The 26-year-old is being released by Chelsea after six years at the club that have been littered with trophies and winners medals, with the latest one being a Champions League winning medal.

Kalou has made 244 appearances for the Stamford Bridge outfit, scoring 60 goals and creating another 40, although it has to be said that he has found himself used in a rotation role over the last few years. Generally though he has been a good player for Chelsea which is why I'm surprised that he is being let go.

An international colleague of Cheik Tiote, Kalou has made 48 appearances for Ivory Coast scoring 17 goals along the way. He can create goals and score goals although I have reservations about signing another player who will be off to the African Cup of Nations every other year.

Anyway, I have no idea why I wrote all of that as the report was in the Daily Mail so you can bet your last penny that nothing will come of it. Actually, I do know why I wrote it after all. Basically I just wanted to highlight the quality that is being released by clubs this year.

Kalou is just one of them, but there are others. Hoilett, Diame, Rodallega and more according to this list here so there is real scope to grab some cracking players for very little outlay in transfer fees, something which Newcastle have already done with the singing of Romain Amalfitano of course.

The only stumbling block with any high-profile free transfers will be wage demands. Not requiring a fee is one thing, but agents will know this and will want to exploit that by trying to get their client (and themselves) the best possible deal.

Are we in for Kalou? I very much doubt it due to the aforementioned wages and knowledge that he wouldn't exactly be on a meagre wage at Chelsea, but it doesn't mean that there are no players worth looking at on the free transfer list.

I'm sure Graham Carr has a handle on it all anyway...