Kevin Keegan has told his Newcastle players to secure their Premiership status quickly to allow him to start overhauling the squad.
Kevin Keegan - who’s on his transfer list?
Newcastle United have not won in the league since mid-December when Joey Barton scored a penalty in the 92nd minute at Craven Cottage, with just 20 seconds before the end of the game to beat Fulham 1-0. Were we lucky? You bet we were, since we gave a poor performance and didn’t really deserve the win. We’ve had 9 league games since then and collected 3 points and haven’t had a win since then. 
Kevin talked about the league position recently :
“First we have to get the players to ensure our safety because we’re not safe yet,” “We need a win. That’s all we lack at the moment.
“Then, when safety is assured, we have to start thinking about pre-season and then in the back of our minds there are players whose contracts are up.
“Then there are players we are looking to in terms of thinking can we get a wish list and can we get people to go and watch them?”
It’s always interesting to try to guess which players could be coming in the summer or even which players would really strengthen the side.
Well, here’s a first pass at various player lists:
Players who we would see leaving:
Player Club Fee Shola Ameobi Norwich £2M Stephen Carr ? contract up Peter Ramage Norwich contract up Alan Smith ? £6M
Players we’d like to see join the club:
Player Position Club Fee Wayne Bridge Left Back Chelsea £7M Wes Brown Center-back Man United free Giles Barnes Midfield Derby £3M Lubos Kalouda Midfield FC Brno £2M Andrei Ashavin Midfield Zenit * £7M Steward Downing Winger Middlebrough £9M Peter Crouch Striker Liverpool £8M**
* Full name of club - Zenit Saint Petersburg
** Could be free if he buys out his contract
Other players who are possibilities in the summer:
Player Position Club Fee Nickey Shorey Left Back Reading £5M John Arne Riise Left Back Liverpool £5M Goran Pandev Striker Lazio £8M Dean Ashton Striker West Ham £7M
There seem to be quite a few good players that could really strengthen our squad. But we’d also have to ship some players out.
Looks like we could bring in around £8M with the players moving out, but that would also relieve the wage bill. One unknown is whether Charles N’Zogbia will want to move on, and if he does, that would increase our coffers by another £10M.
The first list of those we’d like to bring in, would cost us around £36M, so if we got £16M into the club in outgoing transfers, and lost Charles in the process, that would be a net outlay of £20M - not too bad. Of course, the transfer amounts are just best estimates.
Of course there are players in the second list, who may also be targets, and we’ll just have to see who we can attract to the club. It would help if Alan Shearer was Assistant Manager by then.
What do you think - and who are the other players we should go for.
Comments always welcome.
Loading ...
56 responses so far ↓
1 cooldj // Feb 18, 2008 at 13:53
wall virginity –> he’s back with a bang!
2 ObaFan2 // Feb 18, 2008 at 13:57
Downing has just signed a new contract at Smoggies.
Brown is average at best (and he’d be another top 4 reject!)
Crouch will depend on his new manager (If Rafa goes)
Players we should go for : gonna have to wait for the end of the season and see who’s available and for what prices, crazy trying to draw up a list now unless we begin again with D Duck !!!!!
No football = press making up stories (about takeover atm) and endless lists of players lol
3 steve // Feb 18, 2008 at 13:57
I’d like to win the lottery and play centre forward for the toon on champs league final.
Whats the point of this speculation, we’re not even safe in premiership yet - doubt any of these players will come if we get relegated!
lets keep speculation and wishful thinking for the summer when the transfer window is actually open
4 Ed Harrison // Feb 18, 2008 at 13:59
Steve - we’re not safe in the league yet - you’re right. Maybe we should lay off this until we get some more points on the board - but it’s interesting - that’s all.
But of course none of this will happen if we end up in the Championship
5 Kimbo // Feb 18, 2008 at 14:00
You would LIKE to see Downing join the club for £9m???? We should steer clear of Wes Brown aswell.
6 cooldj // Feb 18, 2008 at 14:04
we need players who are hungry and with a point to prove not players moving for £££££.
Therefore from that list i would only be truly happy with crouch, barnes, kalouda (if hes any good!) and maybe bridge (though he could do a duff and get nowhere near his potential!)
.
.
.
.
anyone know anything about Luka Modric?
Is he good in comparison with current prem midfielders? would he come/where is he going? and what sort of price?
7 CRAIGG // Feb 18, 2008 at 14:04
ED ive been showing a list of ours and the mackems remaining fixtures maybe you could do a list of us and the teams belows remaining fixtures so we could see who has the best chance of staying up and the ammount of points those teams would have to gather
8 Dragoner // Feb 18, 2008 at 14:05
we wont attract anyone with our 16th place finish
9 cooldj // Feb 18, 2008 at 14:08
ed writes good articles but as far as i’m aware he can’t predict the future…
10 ObaFan2 // Feb 18, 2008 at 14:12
Wide Range of Players Could Arrive in Summer.
Yep! lol
11 Rich // Feb 18, 2008 at 14:18
CRAIGG- Id be up for an article on that also!
12 Nick C // Feb 18, 2008 at 14:20
Supercooldj, where you been?
13 slick // Feb 18, 2008 at 14:22
Wayne Bridge & Wes Brown -
it should be policy never to buy an ex Chelsea/Arsenal or ManU player again - they are always shot by thetime we get them
Wes Brown is a joke and would be another huge misfit in our defence
Giles Barnes - something to work with
Lubos Kalouda - no idea
Andrei Ashavin - again havent seen enough but looks lively
Steward Downing - I like him
Peter Crouch - would do a good job
Nickey Shorey - not good enough
John Arne Riise - consistent performer
Goran Pandev - risky
Dean Ashton - too slow?
Another name banded about is McGready of celtic- i dont follow the scottish game much but wondered if anyone elese does?
14 Paul P // Feb 18, 2008 at 14:23
Afternoon all. Hope you all enjoyed your weekend.
Potentially, anyone in the world could end up at newcastle. money talks in football as well as the want to play for a club. In 1992, when we nearly got relegated, we should not have been able to attract players to our team, what happend, we got venners, beresford, rob lee, bracewell, cole, sellers, robinson and look what happend, we took off, and i think it will take off again, but the main thing is like we have already said is to obtain the points to stay in the divison. all these stories of mike ashley wanting out, absolute non sense, if that was the case, would he go to every home game also sit with the fans away from home. we will see in the summer what happens, but it should be a very exciting one. tell me what is wrong with goign for players like ronaldinho, beckham etc, this just shows the ambition of where kevin keegan wants to be, surely that is a plus for us.
15 Tez131 // Feb 18, 2008 at 14:24
I cannot see any team pay £6mil for Alan Smith as you have stated.
Alan Smith ? £6M
Unless he actually stated to score some goals and cut out the stupid tackles. Commitment is one thing but he needs to use his head sometimes (and not to headbutt others!!!) .
I would also rather us try our best to convince N’Zogbia to stay than sell him and buy downing. I am a big fan of the french man. He is currently our best winger, Att Mid and is not a bad LB either!!!
We need a solid spine of a team to build round look at the top teams:
Arsenal - Toure, Gallas, Cesc Fab, Adeybouyor
Man Utd - Rio, Vidic, Carrick, C.Ronaldo, Rooney
Chelsea - Terry, essien, Lampard, Drogba
Liverpool - Carragher, Alonso, Gerrard, Torres
Then look at us
Taylor, Faye, N’Zogbia, Owen
The other teams have quality around there spine.
Any Thoughts??
16 Zx // Feb 18, 2008 at 14:32
Going by today’s market, I think Crouch and Pandev are seriously under-valued by 25%.
Its crazy times for football…
17 valle1 // Feb 18, 2008 at 14:32
I sure as ¤%#& dont hop your right with those signings with the exception of Bridge… We lack flair and creativity and al the players you list are direct and physical, perhaps with the exception of Barnes both that would be way to much to put on his young shoulders. You also list Downing as the wingerould get when we alrdy have Duff and Zog for the left side, our right side is much more of a problem since we only have Milner and he aint good enouigh as it is.
I would like to see the following
LB…Bridge: 4 mill
CB…Dunne: 8 mill
CM…Poulsen: 7 mill
CM…V.D. Vaart: 12 mill
RW…Bentley: 10 mill
Att… Cant think of any, but someone with flair and skill.
OUT: Zog, Smith, Ameobi and Roz for a combined 20 mill+
That would leave us on a net spend of about 30 mill, but hopefully we will be closer to the 50 mill with a couple of backups arriving to and a star to attract other players… This might be dreaming, depends of how much we actually have. This summer will tell if MA was full of hot air or if he delivers.
18 mark // Feb 18, 2008 at 14:43
Ed - are you rich? being an executive et al?
19 Gooderz // Feb 18, 2008 at 14:44
Bridge is worth 6m of anyone’s money and it’s also Chelsea who don’t have to sell.
Dunne is worth 8m, but we should bid less. If he’s interested, Man City will either have to accept, risk the final season and negotiate a contract with him, or he can just buy out his final year and we’d reimburse him for that (which would be good revenge for paying Barton’s loyalty fee).
Van der Vaart apparently has a £1.1m release clause in his contract for this summer. I don’t know how true that is but if that is so then Ashley, Mort, Keegan and Jimenez should be straight over the Hamburg at the soonest possible chance.
I’d prefer Carrick as a holding midfielder. He’s good enough, he’s English and he’s a Geordie.
We could even try and get Alex Song in that role or to add a bit of quality to our defence.
McGeady or Arshavin should be sought after to play as an AM or possibly wide right if needed (although McGeady could cover the left as well). and provide some much needed pace and creativity.
Upfront we should take a chance on someone like Jo. He’s tall, quick and skillful and is still only 20 years old, and he should really enjoy showing that and scoring goals in front of the Gallowgate.
20 cooldj // Feb 18, 2008 at 14:46
where have i been?
dunno really-here and there-spent some time at home but i s’pose becasue we didn’t have a game last weekend i kinda drifted away but no fear-i’m back and hopefully here to say.
btw no-one know anything on modric then.
21 ELFER // Feb 18, 2008 at 14:52
well don’t get me wrong, the player’s mentioned are good but I can not see any outstanding players there…so why should we improve with these players? Don’t want another “safety first season” next year!!
So we really need to settle that back four problem with some one like DUNNE!! BROWN for right back and BRIDGE or SHOREY left and then we should definitely be competitive if we manage to add 1 or 2 young and hungry creative midfielders!
Concentrate money to the right players and do not buy silly one’s anymore…but I’m sure this won’t happen anymore with such quality in the board!
22 cooldj // Feb 18, 2008 at 14:55
intertoto?
23 Irishal // Feb 18, 2008 at 15:02
£8m for Dunne, by all means your entitled to your opinion but i think the is a lot of money for an average defender, does anyone know when his contract is up, this season or next, remember sven talking about being confident he would get it resolved, if its this summer then £8m is a lot
24 CRAIGG // Feb 18, 2008 at 15:03
I personally think we should keep ramage as backup he can cover right, left and centre back and he loves the club. He is the perfect defender to have on the bench
25 CRAIGG // Feb 18, 2008 at 15:08
dragoner are you always so positive?
26 Bosck // Feb 18, 2008 at 15:09
changing subject a bit, but seeing as there is no thread on this already this is my predictions for the league table at the end of the season:
Pld GD Points
1. Arsenal 38 55 94
2. Man Utd 38 61 92
3. Chelsea 38 34 81
4. Everton 38 29 72
5. Man City 38 16 72
6. Liverpool 38 29 69
7. Aston Villa 38 25 68
8. Tottenham 38 21 62
9. Portsmouth 38 19 62
10. Blackburn 38 2 58
11. West Ham 38 5 53
12. Middlesbrough 38 -21 40
13. Newcastle 38 -24 39
14. Bolton 38 -23 31
15. Reading 38 -34 30
16. Wigan 38 -33 29
17. Sunderland 38 -37 29
18. Birmingham 38 -23 27
19. Fulham 38 -32 24
20. Derby 38 -69 10
So we’ll only pick up 11 points between now and then but that will be enough to keep us in 13th thanks to the league fixtures of the teams below us. the smoggies will have the bragging rights for this season but we’ll be safe which is the main thing. thats what i reckon anyway!!!!
27 neil preston // Feb 18, 2008 at 15:11
the banner looks sweet now. well in.
28 Leo* // Feb 18, 2008 at 15:16
how can peter crouch buy out his contract?
29 Punk Skunk // Feb 18, 2008 at 15:18
New rule for giants!..
30 Punk Skunk // Feb 18, 2008 at 15:24
Na, sorry, i think if ya’ 28 & in the last year of ya’ contract, you can buy y’self out or the buying club can pay the end of ya’ contract!..Somethin’ like that…i’m sure someone on here knows the exactitude tho’!..
31 CRAIGG // Feb 18, 2008 at 15:27
I really couldnt care where boro finish as long as we finish above sunderland. Why do the smoggies think there is a big rivalry between us and them as far as im concerned they are a shitty yorkshire club and the media are the only ones who make out its a massive derby
32 valle1 // Feb 18, 2008 at 15:33
Gooderz… Agree about Carrick, he would be better as the holding player since he can make sweet passes… Poulsen could still fit in the squad tho, but just imagine a central midfield of Carrick and Van Der Vaart… SWEET (drools)
33 ToonJon (PSN ID: jnufcuk) // Feb 18, 2008 at 15:35
all it will take is one big signing then more players will think about coming. If Carrick or a world known player comes first then hopefuly i can see more better players coming.
Also what about Miguel Veloso?
34 cooldj // Feb 18, 2008 at 15:37
i think your drool just dripped onto toonjons post.
35 Hadrian // Feb 18, 2008 at 15:44
people saying wes brown is average at best , you watched him this season? gary neville wouldnt get in the first 11 if he tried with wes’s current form .
ill put money on it that capello will have him as his right back consistently .
carrick , well , the way some of you talk about brining him home you’d think we had another shearer on our hands .
micheal is no shearer ! , and he’s english so your looking at 20 mill when a similar foreigner would cost us 10 .
36 cooldj // Feb 18, 2008 at 15:48
SHEARER! SHEARER!
37 scott9 // Feb 18, 2008 at 16:03
realistickly i would like to see the following players of this qaulity come in the summer.
mgeady 9m
song bilong swap for zog
toulalon 9m
scott brown 9m
arshevin 8m
top class cb however much he will cost i dont care we need one
dean ashton 10m
38 Rich // Feb 18, 2008 at 16:14
slick: You asked about Aiden Mcgeady, im a scottish adopted geordie and watch a lot of the scottish games. Honestly Aiden Mcgeady would be an immense player for us, hes only 21 and has fantastic skill, tricks, vision passing ability and pace. He has everything you would want in a winger and is improving all the time. He also produces in the champions league and tore Ac Millan to pieces last time he played them. He can play LM, RM or as an attacking midfielder would be a great addition to the squad, realistically would be hard to sell him the toon but his mate Duff might help him and he would cost£12 million i would think!
39 cooldj // Feb 18, 2008 at 16:17
great! now that we’ve got that one sorted out are there any croatian geordies out there who can shed some light on luka modric???!!
-suppose if he does well at euro 2008 then maybe a european club will be in for him
40 GP // Feb 18, 2008 at 16:42
Modric is probably going to move to one of the top European clubs. Don’t think we can get him.
41 Leo* // Feb 18, 2008 at 16:45
this would be my absolute dream team, never going to happen unfortunatly
Harper
Beye faye kompany Enrique
Bentley carrick diego nzogbia
Berbatov owen
42 MichaelAwin // Feb 18, 2008 at 17:08
Out:
Carr
Ramage
Rozenhal
Enrique
N’Zogbia
Barton
Butt
Viduka
Shola
In:
Wes Brown
Richard Dunne
Wayne Bridge
Urby Emanuelson
Bentley
Diego
Carrick
Van Der Vaart
Downing
Huntelaar
Ashton
Pandev
If only that could be done. And in one summer
Has anyone else got to the point now of not even celebrating when we score? - because you just KNOW we will concede inside the next 10 or 20 mins? Its got that bad.
43 Tom_Toon // Feb 18, 2008 at 17:14
The only players id defintely buy off your list are Pandev and Bridge, maybe Arshavin and Crouch at a push.
44 leavy // Feb 18, 2008 at 17:46
i really think we should go after diego he can run at players cut them open with his passing and score good goals he is also a fantastic set piece taker.i am a big fan of emre but he hasnt produced the goods.
45 Bucks1985 // Feb 18, 2008 at 17:52
This is my prediction for the summer… with limited bias of course…
Out:
Carr
Rozehnal
N’Zogbia
Butt
Ameobi
Ramage
Viduka
In:
Finnan
Bridge
Dunne
Campbell
Bently
Carrick
Crouch
Pandev
What I would prefer…
Out:
Carr
Rozehnal
Barton
N’Zogbia
Smith
Butt
Ramage
In:
Sorin
Seitaridis
Dunne
Van Buyten
Joaquin
Appiah
Lucho
Pavyluchenko
46 Geordie Joe // Feb 18, 2008 at 17:56
We should bid for carrick. They may be willing to sell with scholes anderson and hargreaves all ahead of him.
47 chuck // Feb 18, 2008 at 18:16
Out
Butt Given
Carr Brown Taylor Dunne Bridge
Owen Bently Arshevin McGeady Duff
Viduka Huntelaar Martins
Geremi A team with pace,skills & youth
Ramage
Barton
Emre
Ins
Brown
Bridge
Dunne
Arshevin
McGeady
Bentley
Huntelaar
48 ADAM // Feb 18, 2008 at 20:55
Out
carr free
enrique 6m
rozenhal 2m
duff 5m
gerimi 2m
smith 6m
ameobi 2m
emre 5m
cacapa 2m
30m
In
carrick 16m
henry 25m
bentley 10m
riise 6m
shaun wright philliphs15m
huddlestone5m
richards15m
=92m
total = 62m
given
beye
s.taylor
richards
riise
milner
n’zogbia
carrick
sw philliphs
henry
owen
subs
harper
huddlestone
martins
bentley
a.faye
49 Ben // Feb 18, 2008 at 22:03
Out
Carr
Ameobi
Duff
Smith
Butt
N’Zogbia (if he wants to go)
Geremi
Viduka
In
Aimar
Vieira
Bentley
Noble
Bridge
Yobo
Crouch
Huntelaar
In reality we’ll probably end up with the average players listed and have to build over the next few years. A lot like Keegan did in his first stint
50 Tom_Toon // Feb 18, 2008 at 22:37
Start with a central midfielder like de Zeeuw.
51 Len // Feb 19, 2008 at 1:46
Looking through these posts I only notice one which talks about our young talent and that was about Ramage. There are hundreds of ideas for wasting tens of millions on high profile high risk big names. I say give Zog Taylor Edgar and the rest a chance and keep our money for players who will bring something special.
52 Mehzeb // Feb 19, 2008 at 10:00
Realistically, I’d want. and we’ll probably get the following:
INS:
1) David Bentley
2) Giles Barnes
3) Lubos Kalouda
4) Goran Pandev
5) Nicky Shorey
OUTS:
1) Stephen Carr
2) Shola Ameobi
3) Charles N’Zogbia
4) David Rozehnal
I’d also like to see Alan Smith, Nicky Butt, and Claudio Cacapa leave the club, but that may not happen.
Alot of people have mentioned Wayne Bridge, and Stuart Downing, but we could not attract them even if we seriously wanted to. The trouble lies with their respective ambitions. I’m even confused regarding Bentley, would he join the Toon Army? Hard to say, but lets hope for the best.
53 Mr T // Feb 19, 2008 at 13:24
Signing players is like a domino effect, if we sign one key one, then it’ll be far easier to sign more as good with the whole potential hype of the keegan effect. As mentioned several times, drawing up a list now is a waste of time in effect. but me personally would like to us bring in:
Ashton
Crouch
Riise
Bullard
Brown
And we should not lose Emre!!
Smithy should go though
54 CJ // Feb 19, 2008 at 14:30
Craigg-Are you serious keep Ramage he is in my opinion the worst player at the club by a long way as soon as the ball gets at his feet he panics like Rozenhal just not good enough prob won’t even end up in the Championship.
55 Nufc_mad // Feb 20, 2008 at 3:04
Were just awfull it seems like a new manager every 6 months sam even said it would take a couple of years to transform us and if we aint patient were gonna end up going down
56 richie // Mar 3, 2008 at 1:47
4th from bottom this season will do
outs
capaca
butt
milner
nzogbia
carr
smith
faye
beye
ins
brown
kilgallon
jagielka
campbell
bridge..yes 5 defenders
carrick
owen garven (young ipswich mid)
crouch
van der vaart
Leave a Comment