Newcastle United manager Kevin Keegan is looking at a few players in Scotland who may help Newcastle strengthen their squad in the summer.
Steven Fletcher - 20 year old striker tracked by Real Madrid
It seems that Hibernian striker Steven Fletcher is attracting some attention and Newcastle scouts were at Parkhead recently to watch Celtic’s £12M rated Aiden McGeady in action against Barcelona last week.
Real Madrid have also been linked with Steven who turns 21 next month, and in fact has just signed a long term contract with the Edinburgh based club making him the club’s highest-paid player. Fletcher scored his first hat-trick in a 4-2 win over Gretna on 13 February 2008.
Real Madrid rate the 20-year-old as one of the hottest prospects in European football and followed him closely during last summer’s FIFA Under-20 tournament in Canada.
Jeff Vetere, who joined Newcastle United recently as part of a new recruitment team at the Tyne-side club, was so impressed by Fletcher he sent glowing reports to Bernabeu sporting director Predrag Mijatovic. It looks like Jeff has now alerted Newcastle United to the young Scottish prospect.
Fletcher has 13 goals for the season and Scotland’s new boss George Burley may bring the prolific youngster into his squad for Croatia’s visit to Hampden Park on March 26. The Old Firm and Blackburn Rovers have also been linked with Steven, who has scored 34 times in 133 appearances for Hibernian.
Keegan has recently admitted he is looking to Scotland for some players as he said:
“I am not saying there are 20 players in Scotland who are worthy of attention, but there are four or five players up there who are very decent prospects.â€
“First and foremost, I am looking for players with experience from within the British Isles and, preferably, having played in the Premiership. But the next step after that, if we can’t get those ones, is Scotland.”
It seems that Fletcher is an excellent player in the making and he, along with a number of other youngsters, could be brought in during the summer and immediately be part of our first team squad.
Sounds a good move to us.
What do you think? Comments very welcome.
Loading ...
23 responses so far ↓
1 Paul R // Feb 27, 2008 at 11:39
Just what we want the best young talent about this is the only way long term we will be able to compete for a top six place by getting the best young players about and getting them on long contracts and giving them a chance in the first team !!
2 Leo* I HATE NICKY BUTT // Feb 27, 2008 at 11:42
well as long as we dont bring defenders from scotland, because our record isnt great.
although i would take back caldwell
3 thelongshanks // Feb 27, 2008 at 11:43
Get this feela looks and sounds great.
4 Rich // Feb 27, 2008 at 11:44
Ye from Scotland the players to watch out for are Aiden Mcgeady, Steven Fletcher, Ross McCormack
5 Eric // Feb 27, 2008 at 11:46
After the past weeks it is good to have a feel good factor at last. Hopefully these young players for the future will do well for the club if they come. It seems that the staff brought in for the job are having an effect. Fletcher looks like one for next seasons first team squad. Give some of the younger ones a go on Saturday too.
6 Kash2 // Feb 27, 2008 at 11:53
We should just sign loads of youngsters and play them with an experienced spine to the team. Let’s say, Harper in goal, Sol Campbell and/or Wes Brown in defence, Carrick in Midfield and Owen and/or Martins up top. Thats a fairly experienced spine and throw in youngsters around them.
We all know that youngsters bring endevour and passion to a team, and they’ll perform to a good standard as long as they have the natural ability. Give them 2 seasons of experience and BANG…………….. We have the new Arsenal!
7 Ian // Feb 27, 2008 at 12:13
I agree about the ’spine’ of senior players, however the senior players must be good, Owen costs a hell of a lot of money, if he isnt producing relative to his cost then he should be replaced by another seasoned pro, such as Djibril Cisse, the midfield we know arent the best so at least one if not two high quality high priced seasoned pros in there as well who are on form now, I can tolerate tempered odd players like Cisse who are on blistering form today, but I cannnot stand the highest paid wasters who do not produce no matter how well behaved they are, then add youngsters to current on form players, where is this Fabio? I know he is young but surely he should be seen around the club more, where is he? He might be better than Carroll. Look how good Rossi was and we hardly ever used him, what a waste.
8 Kash2 // Feb 27, 2008 at 12:28
Well it seems like KK is going to build the team around Owen, considering they’re thinking of extending his contract! I agree that Owen hasn’t warranted the sums paid, but I think for a striker we could be a bit more ambitious. Let’s all hope Barcelona win the champions league, because if they do, I wouldn’t be surprised if KK put in a cheeky phone call to a Mr Terry Henry. If he’s won everything in football, why not come back to the EPL and play for a smaller team than Barca or Arsenal?!
9 Kash2 // Feb 27, 2008 at 12:29
Plus Henry is being played on the wings at Barca, and i’m sure he would prefer to be Striker Number 1!
10 GP // Feb 27, 2008 at 12:34
I can just see him knocking Real Madrid back to come here, haha.
11 Tom_Toon // Feb 27, 2008 at 12:43
http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11661_3203830,00.html
still an attractive club.
12 ronaldeano // Feb 27, 2008 at 12:56
this Kone bloke is just trying to sell himself to the PL
13 cooldj // Feb 27, 2008 at 13:06
hes a good player. not the finished article-a little rough around the edges- but if you saw him in the af cup of nations he looks a prospect. his small frame might not suit him the PL though.
14 Tom_Toon // Feb 27, 2008 at 13:08
hes like 25 or 26 hes in his prime, so he is his finished article.
15 GP // Feb 27, 2008 at 13:09
Yeah Tom_Toon I went to skysports before and seen that. Regardless of how shit our team is, as long as we’re in the premier league our big crowds and history will always give us an edge over most teams in England.
16 ronaldeano // Feb 27, 2008 at 13:11
never seen him play so i cant comment on how good he is but if Wenger says he is a decent player there must be something about him
17 cooldj // Feb 27, 2008 at 13:45
drogba wasn’t the finished article when he came to chelsea. what i’m saying is that put him in an enviroment where facilities are better and the standard of play is better and he will improve. this isn’t football manager-players can improve at any age especially when they join a better league. it’s sink or swim and although i don’t want him here i think he’d be useful for an everton or man city type team.
18 Kash2 // Feb 27, 2008 at 13:46
Terry Henry, I wonder what the odds are for him signing. I’d stick a pound on it!
19 Paul P // Feb 27, 2008 at 13:50
afternoon all. hope u all had a good week. we will not mention saturdays shambles of a match and we will now turn our attentions to saturdays game, which I am convinced that we are going to get 3 points. I no we have not beat them at home for 3 years, so I am optomistic we will turn the corner on saturday. I am pleased that we seem to be trying to get the youngsters into the club, but also, we do need the experieced/ world class signings to take us on. if this happens, then the youngsters who we bring in can learn off them and then hopefully that will see us make big strides in order to compete with the big 4 in maybe 3-4 years.
20 Ian // Feb 27, 2008 at 14:14
We might turn the corner if Martins plays, but it would be his first game with us for ages.
Is KK trying to renew Owen’s contract???
That is a lot of money for that number of goals, I think we should think bigger too (taller as well!).
21 irish_al // Feb 27, 2008 at 15:04
i think kone played for psv at st james preseason not this year but the year before
22 Tom_Toon // Feb 27, 2008 at 15:10
That Arouna Kone, there are millions of Kone’s
23 scott 9 // Feb 27, 2008 at 15:47
aiden mcgeady would be an exellent signing
Leave a Comment