STM

What worries me is peoples insistance that we should be looking to sign players like Veloso from Sporting as apposed to solid players such as Sidwell. Now i'm not saying that Veloso is a bad player but is a far bigger risk signing player from inferior leagues. I'd rather rely on KK's coaching ability that picking players who are popular at the time. When Sidwell signs for Villa it will be another cracking piece of buisness from O'Neill and he will be a good player for them next year.

Is there anyone who doesn't? the truth hurts just like when i knew Jonas is not our next Ginola.... Noooo! Not a Ginola-clone!? Instant fail. never said he will fail. in fact i say he will be a fans fave. You compare him to Milner and Butt, as well as saying he will never be as good as Ginola, then you say he will be a fans favourite? Contradiction.

Gerry Armstrong- "I don’t think Kevin could have signed a better player for Newcastle from La Liga because he has all the attributes needed to be a success in the Premier League" So Maethis, you believe that your opinion is more valuable than that of someone who watches almost every single game that La Liga has to offer? I'm not saying he's going to be a success or not, what i am saying is that you clearly don't know what your talking about.

Anyone else think that Maethis is annoying as fuck?

Sidwell isn't a defensive midfielder. Neither was speed mate. People are being far too simplistic about this. In my opinion Sidwell would make an excellent signing if we converted him into a DM, for the long term. i.e use coaching skills.... they haven't been used in a while at our club.

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Tremendous, i'm a big fan of Sidwell. Imagine if he joined Villa, O'Neill would undoubtebly turn him into one of the countries top midfielders. He worked wonders with Reo-Coker, the same would happen again. Very impressed with O'Neills ability to spot a good player and raise his game.

i totally agree - they look like a good side imo If they were to sign say SWP they would have a easily enough for top 6 next year which is no laughing matter.

If they run their football clubs like their terrorist organisations i'm all for it, very well run.

It's not great news really. They will have Defoe and Crouch up front next season and a fairly strong unit behind them. Good signing for Harry Reknapps men.

Seems alot of re-hash like. Suspect there isn't alot of substance to this one.

I'll get shot down for this Dave but i actually believe he will be a very good centre half when he gets a bit older. However, i don't believe he is the player for us. We need someone in the peak of their career.

Looking forward to seeing the lads back in action, shame there will be no new faces for us yet.

I've said it time and time again, i'd take Sidwell here. Only if we made a real effort into converting him into a DM (ala Speed).

I have a funny feeling we will sign someone within the next 10 days like. One player will be alot to talk about. Like the sound of this Inler lad, if it's the one i saw at the Euro's that was always looking to run at people.

Hope thats all true.

Will take it on face value as a rumour, shall be interesting to see if it happens. It will be good to see us bolster our squad with good young talent.

What i'd give to have Clarence Acuna in our midfield now. His passing game would have suited the modern game alot more these days than it did then.

Would make a decent goal keeper to be fair. In fact he could probably save us a few quid on buying nets.

I think we will avoid the media shit this year. For example, i doubt we will see him have a press conference or anything like that. Newcastle seem to be making an effort to avoid the fan fair, which suits me down to the ground. I suspect when he joins up with the squad he may have an interview on .co.uk and perhaps a couple of pictures but thats all i would expect to see.

Could be possible that this was part of the agreement, that we play in the tournament. First argy to play for us? We get to chant ARG- EN- TINA EDIT- Bassedas, slipped the mind.

So the up-shot is, noone knows how much we have paid for him? I think we must have bought out his contract, i doubt it will be anywhere near the 10m mark though.

Few thoughts. First thing is first, i think alot of us share the opinion that we know very little about the guy, so lets not judge too early. He signed in time to join up with the lads for pre-season, without missing a session. He's signed for an undisclosed fee, which means we are keeping our cards close to our chest about how much we can spend. On the one hand the age signifies truth in the medium to long term targets but on the other it squashes the "no south americans" rumour. Can we please accept now that just because it doesn't sound like there is alot going on, there is no reason to panic. Good luck to the lad.

Excellent i shall be in thailand for the Mallorca tourno. Hopefully i can catch it in a bar somewhere. Who do you reckon we should have for the remaining friendly? FC Twente would be my choice because they will bring loads of fans and we can stuff McClarens side.

Martin Jols ITK has been found out. He actually just visits football rumours.com.