A long interview with Kevin Keegan in this morning’s Newcastle Journal about Charles N’Zogbia.
It may be the youngster has already made up his mind to leave Newcastle, although both Keegan and Charles have said they will keep an open mind until the end of the season.
Charles N’Zogbia – we expect 21 year-old to leave in the summer 🙁
This is what Kevin said today about Charles, our 21 year old French Under-21 International:
“The best way to get people to commit to a club is to convince them that there isn’t a better club out there for them,†“He’s just signed a new contract, but if he’s really homesick and wants to go, there isn’t much we can do. All we will do is try and convince him that if he leaves he will miss out on something.â€
“Players are scared of jumping off a big ship on to a littler one, they hate the idea of missing out on something. If, at the end of the day, he still says he doesn’t want to be here, and he’s not saying that at this stage, then we will have to consider what to do in the summer.â€
“At the moment we are pretty open minded. He said his family are in London and he wants to be closer to them, but it is our job to try and keep our best players. I personally don’t think he will leave for a better club if he does go. There might be one who are above us in the league at the moment, but there isn’t one with the potential this club has.â€
“He’s definitely a talent, he can go past people and he can excite the crowd, but he’s by no means the finished article.†“But fans love those sorts of players, who in one movement can go past two or three people with a little shift of the feet or with a burst of pace. Rest assured we will do what we can, but if he says he doesn’t want to be here, we have to accept that and bring someone better in.â€
“Charles N’Zogbia has been compared to David Ginola, but Ginola was 29 when he came, he was very experienced. The reason he came was because he was guilty of giving the ball away on the halfway line and the other team scored and knocked France out of the World Cup.” “He was never forgiven for that by the French people so we brought him to Newcastle.â€
“I think Charlie’s got a lot of ability but it’s off the cuff at the moment, he’s still learning the game, but you expect that from someone so young. He’s only 21 and he hasn’t got David’s experience yet.â€
As much as we’d like to see Charles stay at Newcastle we have a feeling that he’s already made his mind up to go, and there’s not much in that case we can do to keep him, as Kevin rightly points out. Certainly the results and our displays this year cannot be helping Charles change his mind too much.
It’s a real pity if he does leave because he’s probably one of our best ever young signings when he came in August, 2004 from Le Havre. Charles arrived just before the great Bobby Robson was sacked. He immediately challenged for the first team, even though he was just 18 at the time.
Obviously the vast majority of Newcastle fans (83% in our poll) think Charles should stay and around 3 in 4 think he is worth £10-£15M or more in the transfer market. But he’s not a French International and we think £10M would be a good deal for Newcastle. Anything more will be icing on the cake.
We think Kevin may go after Stewart Downing of Middlesbrough, if Charles does depart, but whether we can get him to the club or not is by no means clear.
But we still hope he proves us wrong and eventually stays at the club.
What do you think about this?
Comments welcome.
19 comments so far
GM
Feb 13, 2008 at 10:53 AM
Comment #1I voted for him to stay, but if he doesnt want to play for the club then I would be happy enough to see him go, as long as we do not get ripped off in terms of transfer fee’s. If we can get between 10-15 mil then i will be happy, its not like we have to sell for the money so hold out for as much as we can.
I think for 10-15 Mil there are far better players around that we can replace him with, he might have played well for us this season, but I never think there is much end product from him, yes he can go past players, but never seems to find a cross or a final pass 9its the same on teh right as well with milner), i know he is still young but if he has to go i think we can get better in.
Quazi
Feb 13, 2008 at 10:55 AM
Comment #2‘Certainly the results and our displays this year cannot be helping Charles change his mind too much.’ nah u think KK??? anyway i’m not sure what KK wants. does he want experience or young playas. u tell me? a bit of both perhaps?. anyway downing wouldn’t be a bad replacement. but would we get any profit out of selling zog n buying downing? again u tell me.
Bottlodog
Feb 13, 2008 at 10:57 AM
Comment #3You guys in the states must be wondering what the hell he’s on about – too far away from his family ????!!!! It’s less than 300 miles, you KNOB.
Bloody Hell Man – it takes less than a hour by plane – your no sooner up an’ you’re on your way back down again.
You’d think we were somewhere north of Siberia FFS !!!
All of those prospects for next year must be thinking ‘ I’m not going there – it obviously some sort of backwater ‘
P*ss off now you TW*T
Bottlodog
Feb 13, 2008 at 10:58 AM
Comment #4Sorry!
Eric
Feb 13, 2008 at 11:00 AM
Comment #5Have said before I want Zog to stay. No club can keep an unhappy player. He is a talent with a future at Newcastle – we can see that, but maybe he cannot. What is wrong with his family moving to Newcastle? Cannot be that hard – they have already moved from France! Whose heads have been turned by the so-called bright lights? Hope KK can pursuade him, charm him, find him a good Geordie lass who will tie him to the toon, do whatever it takes. Even so Zog, at 21, is still himself, one for the future. Londoners cannot love like a Geordie can!!!!!
Obafan
Feb 13, 2008 at 11:10 AM
Comment #6If he wants to leave then let him leave. Players who are unhappy at a club never reach their best form. I don’t say that he played not good this season, on the contrary, but it will be very hard to keep him motivated.
Len
Feb 13, 2008 at 11:15 AM
Comment #7Thin end of the wedge. If Zog gets a great deal Taylor will go to Spurs, Milner to Villa, Martins to highest bidder. We will go straight through the championship to league 1.
KevinHann
Feb 13, 2008 at 11:15 AM
Comment #8How about Aiden McGeady from Celtic as replacement?
playzoginthemiddle
Feb 13, 2008 at 11:31 AM
Comment #9Don’t think anyone will be surprised by my opinion here. But if Zog plays where he should be playing from now to the end of the season, ie in centre midfield, not left back, he will be much more inclined to stay. Duff seems to be playing better than he has since joining Newcastle (not a great boast I know), so there’s no reason why we can’t play Duff, Zog and Milner in midfield with someone a bit more defensively minded in the middle with him. (Barton, Butt, Geremi or Faye). Zog can at least tackle and pass. And play Enrique at left back ffs. He might not have adjusted brilliantly to life at Newcastle in the Premiership, but neither has Carr, who is a total liability.
KevinHann
Feb 13, 2008 at 11:41 AM
Comment #10Zog’s natural position is a left winger not central. His concerns were at being played in the center and then at the back. He isn’t experienced enough for central midfield and the wing offers him way more creative freedom (running at players without giving away possession in an idiotic way granting the opposition chances to counter). And with Duff at left wing I’m not very sure he will get a starting position.
Rich
Feb 13, 2008 at 11:52 AM
Comment #11AIDEN MCGEADY is the man to replace Zog totaqlly class act, a far better player than Zog in my opinion. I watch a lot of Celtic games and this lad has the lot , can play on both wings would cost 10 million though!
ToonKing
Feb 13, 2008 at 12:01 PM
Comment #12Zog is a brilliant talent but his position is very easy to replace and we can get much better players there. If were good we can get max 10 Mil for him.
Rich
Feb 13, 2008 at 12:03 PM
Comment #13Turan, Capel, Downing, Leonardo other possible replacements!
Leo*
Feb 13, 2008 at 12:05 PM
Comment #14home sick! how can you be homesick if you have never lived in london and that is where you want to go!?
the whole london thing is killing out chances of keeping the talent we will bring through in the future, i truelly hope we convince him to stay at the end of the season… the amount of stick he will get if he goes will be tremendous
Steeley
Feb 13, 2008 at 12:07 PM
Comment #15Yeah, I think if he wants to go then there’ll be nothing we can do to keep him, although we MUST impress on him that he wont leave the club unless the club get top dollar for him!!
It really bothers me when players bleat on about wanting to be closer to their family – I would understand if his family were in France and he moved back there, but when they’re in London it just takes the p!ss, and the lad has lost a LOT of respect from me!
I just get worried by Ed’s last paragraph when he mentions that he’s not sure if Downing will want to come to us – and it’s right! We really are stuck in the mud if promising players are desperate to get out, yet we cant attract similar quality players to the club (Downing).
I love football, but I would quite happily end the season now and not have any more games until Sep if it meant we wouldnt have to see any more of the rubbish football that’s come out of SJP recently. I just only hope that come the summer TX window it’s not a massive let down like the one just gone!!
ObaFan2
Feb 13, 2008 at 12:22 PM
Comment #16The best thing is that Zog cost us very little and we can cash in on him if he really wants to go.
I agree with the people saying London’s not far pff, excuses imo.
If he wants to go let him, he’ll probably play half a season for some London club and the rest on the bench.
Downing is light -weight imo.
Ian
Feb 13, 2008 at 12:35 PM
Comment #17Allerdyce played people in different positions but never tried NZogbia at the front alongside Martins, I always wondered what they would be like together at the front as they link up well with each other. I dont understand why as they dont speak the same language but they are very purposeful when they link up and their passing is perfect both ways, yet it isnt always perfect with other players. Both are dangerous on goal too.
If Keegan tried him and he was good, we may be able to inflate his price or persuade him to stay.
scott9
Feb 13, 2008 at 3:33 PM
Comment #18he aint ginola standard and never wiil be
valle
Feb 14, 2008 at 10:14 AM
Comment #19Sell him alrdy