Deadline day drama on Tyneside?
With the transfer window closing tomorrow evening, there appears to be a lot of business for Rafa and NUFC to do, both in and out of the club. Newcastle fans are rightly cautious about dealings over the next few days, with us let down on many deadline days in the past. Andy Carroll’s departure or that bogus helicopter ride for Bryan Ruiz spring to mind. So just what may happen and where do we need to strengthen?
Departures
There has finally been some departures of squad deadwood this week, meaning valuable wages off the wage bill and hopefully more room to bring new faces in. Here are who has left recently and who we can expect to depart:
- COMPLETE- Siem De Jong – Ajax - anywhere between £2-4m
- COMPLETE - Riviere – Metz - nominal fee
- COMPLETE - Hanley – Norwich City (3.5m)
- Lazaar – loan mooted back to Serie A
- Haidara – loan moote
- Colback – left out of Rafa’s plans, Hull and Villa interested
- Gayle – Bid from Fulham for £15m
- Krul – Likely to complete move away from NUFC, linked to Benfica
- Saivet – appears to not be in Rafa’s plans, could return to Ligue 1
The news this morning on Gayle is a bit of a shock after such a good season last year. There are doubts he can deliver at this level though and the fee could be used to bring in the extra quality we need. You would hope though the departure would not be sanctioned until we had a replacement lined up.
Potential arrivals
Let’s look at some of the most recent links for inbound players. Could any of these arrive tomorrow?
- Origi – NUFC have been credited with an interest and Klopp wants regular action for the Belgian striker, seems unlikely at this stage though.
- Perez - Appears to be the most likely option should NUFC pursue a Gayle replacement. Wants out at Arsenal and Rafa is clearly a fan.
- Batshuayi – With Llorente seemingly on his way to Chelsea, could Newcastle pull off this impressive loan signing?
- Kenedy - A loan deal had been agreed but now looks unlikely unless Chelsea add to their squad and can therefore sanction his exit.
- Reina – Long held interest and Rafa wants an experienced keeper. A reunion between the pair may be on the cards as Reina appeared to wave goodbye to fans last week but would a place on PSG’s bench be more appealing than move to the North East?
- Praet – The talented Belgian can play in the number 10 role or right wing but with the asking price at more than £20m, you would expect funds would have to be raised from outgoings to finance this deal. We also face stiff competition from Everton.
There looks set to be many twists and turns over the next few days but let’s hope this window isn’t as disappointing as we fear it is beginning to appear. We need a striker and number 10 as a minimum to give us the best chance of staying up.
Who do you think will leave and who do you want to see arrive?
