€8 million fee agreed for Vurnon Anita

Toon bid for Anita accepted It looks as though Newcastle are about to make their first what could be called "first team" breakthrough of the summer in the form of Vurnon Anita from Ajax.

We've been linked with the 23-year-old for most of the summer but, as ever these days, our interest cooled as Ajax played hard to get with Anita.

However it would seem that a fee of around £6.2 million (or €8 million) has been enough to persuade Ajax to part company with their academy prospect who has been at the Amsterdam club for over 13 years now. Anita is yet to agree terms with Newcastle though although you would have to say that negotiations and a medical are just formalities ahead of the closure of the deal. It's highly unlikely that his agent will have no idea what NUFC are going to offer isn't it?

Naturally this will crank up the speculation regarding Cheik Tiote who will now be pencilled in as leaving the club by a section of our fans. It may be the case or it may not and nobody knows for sure, but just because we've signed another defensive midfielder (who can also play left-back I'll add) it doesn't necessarily mean that our African enforcer is on his way.

If you actually think about it allows our team to be more dynamic in attack if the addition of Vurnon is worked right. You could have Anita and Tiote sitting deep with Cabaye pushed further forward flanked by Benny and who can interchange with Cisse up top throughout the match. Or we could have a midfield trio of Cabaye, Tiote and Anita giving Ba, Cisse and Ben Arfa licence to do some damage in attack.

The possibilities are endless and with the prospect of somewhere near 50 games this season we, to be fair, need all the faces we can get.

So not quite signed and sealed yet, but not too far off...