Teasy

I'd like to actually see NUFC.com's words, rather then ICNewcastle.. Also how do we know Rivaldo didn't agree in principle to the move before Milan came in and highjacked the move?

They reported the rumour, but did they ever claim it was happening based on there own sources? It probably won't happen, but I'd be suprised if the deal wasn't being discussed between NUFC/Barca and Deco at the moment. Is all I could find searching.. Here we go with Figo? Real Madrid midfielder Luis Figo could be a surprise arrival as negotiations with the Portuguese star suggest some cause for optimism. The man who cost Real £37m when he was signed from Barcelona five years ago may come to Tyneside on a similar contract to the one that saw former Barca colleague Patrick Kluivert arrive last summer. Figo is apparently keen on the deal and a year contract with two exercisable one year options may suit both parties. Amid the stuff and nonsense overflowing this weekend, apparently this story has some substance. http://www.soccer24-7.com/forum/showthread.php?t=79532 So it was definitely not the same kind of story as with Deco then. Which is encouraging..

They reported the rumour, but did they ever claim it was happening based on there own sources? It probably won't happen, but I'd be suprised if the deal wasn't being discussed between NUFC/Barca and Deco at the moment.

Based on what Andy? How many times have you gotten something like this right? I can't remember so I'm geniunly asking. Are you seriously saying your sources are more reliable then the likes of NUFC.com? Personally I am still very skeptical about this happening, despite NUFC.com usually being very reliable. But not based on some so called ITK.....

Reliable? I would say so, look at all the ITK stuff AH has come up with in the past! Is this a woosh? I'd definitely trust NUFC.com's sources ahead of anyone on this forum.

Be careful... ?? The choice of phrase wasn't the best was it? They're Egyptians (?), and having not gained employment at Newcastle they went back to Egypt.. which is there country.. I know what you're getting at but with all due respect its silly, there's no need to be so politically correct that we have to watch the way we phrase things for fear of sounding racist.

If Spurs don't finish top 6 they could be in trouble financially. They're fine. They're loaded as it is with the new sponsorship money and the new TV money is crazy. I suppose that depends on your defnition of loaded.. everyone gets that TV money and the sponsorship is not so big that it negates a lack of prize money, european money and relatively small gate reciepts (if they finished outside the top 6). Like ohmelads says, IMO they're taking a bit of a risk on finishing 4th and getting into the Champions League. Finishing outside the top 6 would be a major blow financially.

Be careful... ??

I hadn't considered that, if that was the way he felt then I'd hope we wouldn't go for him, we need ambitious players.

Co-Efficient you mean?.. Newcastle are a few places ahead of Port last time I checked. Not that its really relivant of course. Anyway currently he's at a very good club who have been a lot more successful then us in winning trophies, no doubt about that. They have a very good history. But they really have a fixed ceiling on how well they can do. They're the sort of club who will win a major European trophy and then sell off there best players to bigger clubs and disapear for a while as they rebuild. They just don't have the financial base or pull to big players to go any further then that, mainly because they play in a league which is considered to be B level (compared to the Premiership, Serie A and La Liga). Being a Premiership club gives us a major advantage, and with a new billionaire owner and new manager we only need to sell the idea of big things happening here and future Premiership success and we do have a chance of signing these kind of players IMO

We have potential to offer him as well. Porto are a good club with an excellent history, but they will always have the limit of playing in the Portugese league. With a new manager and new billionaire owner we have the potential to be a top Premiership side, all we need to do is sell that too the player. Hate it when people say "great player but he'd never come here" this kind of negativity really pisses me off.

I´d hardly call $4 billion low-ball, nor is it really comparable to Lerners personal fortune of $1.6 billion tbh.

must have missed the bit where you get a Premier league medal for playing for England You are joking right? Right?

No, we need to get away from buying a big player that the team doesn´t need just to gloss over the rest of the problems at the club. There´s no reason what so ever why we have to either do lots of small signings or lots of big signings.. Surely we just buy the players the manager thinks we need. If Ashley says to Allardyce "I´ll go out and get one or two huge signing/s for you outside of the players you´ve already identified/signed, who do you want?" then what´s wrong with that?.. As long as that signing is chosen by the manager and doesn´t mean that other area´s of the team have to suffer (which has been the main problem with some of our big signings in the past) then there´s nothing wrong with it at all.

Or it could be a £7.5 million fee with a hell of a lot of addons for apearances, goals, winning certain trophies and percentage of next sale ect roughly adding up to a maximum of £16 million.

Dein loves Arsenal but he isn't an idiot.. If it was made crystal clear that there was no chance of him going back to Arsenal he would move on. Obviously at the moment it isn't that clear cut.

He was 34 in February (Makelele that is). EDIT: Beat me to it Johnson..

we haven't spent £9mill net though,i'm sure i'm quoted on here saying we'll spend around £35mill this window,not sure how much of this will be fresh cash mind. Oops, forgot about Parker. I stand by my point though, think it would be more prudent to build the castle rather than throw it up. You know what I mean. I agree, but ultimately I think Ashley will leave that kind of decision (how the team should be built) to Allardyce. He'll simply provide Allardyce with a budget, its up to him how its spent.

We've only really spent about £1.8 million when you consider that we got £7 million for Parker.

Well I doubt he'll be telling Allardyce "You better bloody spend £50 million!!". But that may well be the most Allardyce will be allowed to spend this season. Or the article might just be total crap..

Don't recall that vow myself. Not personally he hasn't, but then he doesn't talk to the media. However his 5-year plan to make us Champions League winners, or summat, included a mention of something like a £200m budget? AFAIR the article mentioned £50 million for Allardyce in his first season with Ashley deciding at the end of the season wether he was the right man for the job long term. With a further £270 million over five years for the manager he decides is the right man. The article didn't say wether the £270 million would include any money brought in by the club or wether it would be £270 million put in on top of club money.. But who knows how much of it was true and how much was bollocks anyway so..

How much though I wonder?

So then you agree I did fix your post? BTW how many threads is that now? You know, where you've brought up Luque's name for no reason at all.. You've got one hell of a complex about that bloke! Seek help..

Being paid off by your firm and haggling for an extra £370,000 on a deal that will already net you £37 million and will be good for the club you claim to love are two different things entirely.

That extra 1p was a childish act of a man who wanted to get one over on the Hall's, he's a petty man who took an extra £300k which will eventually come out of the transfer budget because that's probably the only cost which isn't fixed other than future wages. greedy if you have a soul and some kind of moral fibre, astute if you haven't. Fixed that for you mate..