TRon

What about Duff? I'm pretty sure KK will pick Duff ahead of Zog. I'm also pretty sure that after sparkling in pre-season friendlies, he'll disappear up his own arse against Man U.

Hopefully Bassong will prove a shrewd buy.

That's what i was arguing. Even if he wanted to be away, we should have been compensated properly for losing a first team defender with Premiership experience. £3-4m would have been more like it.

If KK wants to keep him that's fine by me. Like Taylor though, his performances have to back up that judgement this season.

Still cautious, athough I think we'll do ok. If the next couple of signings address the weak areas in the squad I'll be more than happy. At the moment top 10, with the right additions it could be top 6.

Best centre back we've had for a good while. But he's local and not great on CM2008, so he must be shit. I think it's you and a few others who take the local factor into account tbf.

To be fair to him he has had to act like the leader for the last couple of years due to being paired with utter dross. Maybe he just needs not be the main man for a while and mature a bit. Hope he comes up trumps. I think he needs to stop thinking he's the main man and just concentrate on his game. Anyway, he's committed his future here and he'll get a clean slate from me. Nothing would please me more than to see him have a great season and establish himself alongside Coloccini.

he's not going to score them from his sofa.

Which is why we need a striker. Smith and Ameobi also being gash and Viduka being a fat bastard, leaves us with just Martins. I don't want to be left relying on Owen's reliability or will he/won't he sign a contract saga.

I have been saying for a while that one of our top priorities should be a striker, preferably a target man. Even if Owen stays fit we still need that option because Viduka won't and Smith/Ameobi are not good enough assuming they stay.

Derdiyok or A.N. Other striker will do then.

tbf, every club hopes their best strikers are going to be fit? Well I'd love it if Viduka was available for 30 matches a season but I wouldn't want to plan a campaign around hope in that case.

He's back and 'keen to play' according to .com. Emphasises our lack of fit and available options up front which is no surprise. If Martins is ok then we should be alright. If not we haven't got a prayer.

I hope there's something in the rumours about Derdiyok because he's a striker. I haven't seen him play but the fact we are pinning our hopes on Martins being fit to start against Man U confirms we are short on fit and available options up front. That is likely to be a feature this season unless we strengthen.

Can't say i'd lose a great deal of respect for the man... but it really is a proper bizarre move - unless Faye has made it damn clear that he doesn't want to play for this club. Faye/Coloccini could have had the potential to be so solid. And with a fantastic tackler to the right of them in Beye, and Enrique (or whoever) to the left, it really would represent one of the best back fours in the Premier League. I don't dislike Taylor over-much, but he can certainly be a bit of a liability - he's definitely not of Faye's standard imo. KK has a track record of this though David Kelly and Andy Cole were both sold despite being one of our best performers, KK upgraded with his replacements each though so we soon forgot. If that happens then fair enough. If not we'll have weakened the first team IMO.

30 yrs old isn't really old for a defender, especially if it's only £2m you're talking about. Is Sol Campbell too old? What's his age out of interest?

It wouldn't surprise me if he's being sold because he got on the wrong side of Keegan. Not many players survive that.

Who's overreacting like? The player is simply rated more highly than those who will remain here. Exactly.

Unless we buy a replacement we are weakening the first team for £2m. I repeat, very few players are saying he is that good. Just more solid than Taylor.

I don't think he's great, just a bit better than Taylor. If we are replacing him with a better player who we don't know about yet then fine, otherwise £2m is pointless. But if his head is in a place where anywhere (in this case apparently Stoke) is a better option than Newcastle, is putting him on the pitch going to have any kind of positive affect at all or will it just bring the team down on the day? Facing the likes of Man U and Arsenal, unless we go out with every player completely on top of their game, we are knackered before a ball is kicked. I always think in this case a player under contract should only be allowed to move if the deal suits us. If we have a better replacement lined up fair enough. If not we should be asking for more than £2m. Agreed that if the £2mil figure is correct then thats scandalous. I choose not to believe it. The club havent disclosed any of the prices for the incoming lads so I would be sure to think they would want to make sure that any selling prices arent disclosed too. However, if KK is saying that the only players wanted at the club are players that understand Newcastle, the fans etc etc, the I would guess that if Faye is some kind of bad influence then it would suit us to ditch him. Let's wait and see. I would think we could get at least £3m for a proven Premier defender who still has a few good years ahead of him.

I don't think he's great, just a bit better than Taylor. If we are replacing him with a better player who we don't know about yet then fine, otherwise £2m is pointless. But if his head is in a place where anywhere (in this case apparently Stoke) is a better option than Newcastle, is putting him on the pitch going to have any kind of positive affect at all or will it just bring the team down on the day? Facing the likes of Man U and Arsenal, unless we go out with every player completely on top of their game, we are knackered before a ball is kicked. I always think in this case a player under contract should only be allowed to move if the deal suits us. If we have a better replacement lined up fair enough. If not we should be asking for more than £2m.

I don't think he's great, just a bit better than Taylor. If we are replacing him with a better player who we don't know about yet then fine, otherwise £2m is pointless.

Ok, obviously Villa really ARE prepared to pay £9m. it's not stupid figure being bandied about at all!

The point is it's not in our interests to sell him for £2m even if he would like a move. You have an experienced, solid centre half who can also play in midfield - where are you going to find that for £2m? What are we going to do with that money? Buy a youngster who isn't ready to play first team football?

I would take the £9m figure with a pinch of salt. It's more likely to be £6-7m, so I would decide on that figure whether we should take their hands off.