fredbob

To be fair - dont think we're one of the clubs, in fact i think it'd be a safe bet that that we wont sign anyone in the premiership without being actively linked with them and Zarate falls into that category, nothing substantial.

Where does it say that? I heard the agent said that he was speaking to 2 "top english clubs." If he's gone to Birmingham knowing their plight and enjoying it i can imagine a top club being from 17th position up!

Still don't know what he's done to be so highly rated, but weren't people talking about him costing much more than £10m? Been in a struggling side has put a few away and has some quality attributes about him, quick, technically good, can spot a pass and can put defenders under pressure and is very young. What hasnt he done that makes you wary?

Why cant we - there will be a fair amount of 1 in 2 strikers out there and as keegan has already point out the big clubs cant pick up every pebble on the beach...seems like a notion that would work for us, i suppose its not competing but i still think theres a realistic chance. I agree that people are reading up too much into goal ratios and goals scored in an inferior league, i dont think many people are taking into account that they are in a struggling team ironicaly forgetting that 2 of our own "world class" (at a push) strikers have hit a similar ratio, if not worse themselves in our struggling season. I say judge him as a player, and if you havent seen him play then you cant have an opinion!

I'm currently doing the rounds and asking people who will be able to confirm if anythings popped up in Portugal about any interest.

So is this legit then? Have we got anyone who's portugese who knows more?

If this came off i'd getting so fucking giddy - Veloso looks a good player to me, spreads the ball well just like Carrick - exactly what we need Moutihno would be a quality signing as well although whether he can make it in this league will be another matter. Out the 2 id rather have Veloso.

Similar to Lennon in the sense that their pace and dribbling ability made them a threat and danger on the pitch which in Dyer's case presented opportunities for the team going forward. However, the final product from both players for the majority of the time renders all their other good work void. I wouldnt go as far as saying void but i know what you mean - if Dyer could finish he could easily of been a 10 goal midfielder every season. To be honest im one who would like Lennon cos i think he could be more affective with the strikers we have. It'd be not so much him getting assist after assit but him doing what Dyer did and putting the opposition defence under pressure leading to oppurtunites.

Just out of interest - did people actually think Dyer was a bad player? Ill put myhand up and say i thought he's always been a key player for us, will always resent him for the SBR debacle and the inflated wages which he didnt deserve but for the past 4 years he was a good player in a bad team. I hated him as a person but i liked him as a player.

I dunno about the timings but im sure that aimmediately after Dyer was sold he announced that we should be announcing his replacement all things going well. That suggests he wasnt signed before Dyer. He said that the day Dyer passed his medical that his replacement would be revealed tomorrow, the next day we signed Smith. So he signed after Dyer was sold then?? Glad we've got that cleared up then. No. Dyer passed a medical at West Ham and the day after that we signed Alan Smith, Dyer didn't leave the club for another 2 weeks though because they were arguing over the fee. Ahh ok, kind of got sidetracked there anyway - my point was that Elano was one of the targets we missed out because the club was being too slow. Rememeber an articel from Allardyce bemoaning the fact we had been after Elano and hinting that we missed out cos of Mort et al.

I dunno about the timings but im sure that aimmediately after Dyer was sold he announced that we should be announcing his replacement all things going well. That suggests he wasnt signed before Dyer. He said that the day Dyer passed his medical that his replacement would be revealed tomorrow, the next day we signed Smith. So he signed after Dyer was sold then?? Glad we've got that cleared up then.

I would absolutely love Veloso and Moutihno - Veloso would make my summer but if we went after Moutihno as well.... . If thats the calibre of target we're going for id be very very excited about the summer. Can see us going after Huntelaar and Benzema as well to be honest.

I dunno about the timings but im sure that aimmediately after Dyer was sold he announced that we should be announcing his replacement all things going well. That suggests he wasnt signed before Dyer.

Will this be one of Keegas chosen targets or a Wise targets he's gone to see?

I dunno why but it rings a bell that we were in for Elano but missed out cos the board were too slow, can remember Allardyce having mumurings about it ad i think it was Elanos name that was being bandied around. Dont think it was a stright choice between Elano and Smith.

Toss up between Lennon and SWP - would prbably opt for Lennon, especially if he;s at a decent price. Comes down to price and potential if you ask me- Lennon is still pretty raw round the edges so it;d be amassive gamble for me but i think he could be exactly what nufc needs - someone to lift and excite the crowd as well. Those 2 would best utilise our strikers at the moment, thye prefer it on the ground at both look to attack the full back and get to the byline - Lennon is particulary skillful in this area of the pitch, his dribbling and ball control is excellent (manily due to his speed) this for me is key becasue it'd open up spaces for our strikers and when you have the Martins, Viduka (for the time being) and Owen sitting in the box with space they would be lethal. Slap in a cross from 30 yards out and they wouldnt - so that rules Pennant out for me.

They always say build your defence from the front man so id go for option2. Simple fact is that when we concede possession and put ourselves under pressure - ala allardyce we concede plenty of goals because our defence isnt good enough but if we retain possession and try to limit the pressure ala keegan on our defence our defence looks alot better. Id say build an attacking unit capable of putting the squeeze on most teams and we'll concede half as many goals as we did this season. A new defender to compliment Faye would be nice as well - the more i think aboutit the more Woodgate would of been perfect for us.

Would love Veloso - if thats the calibre of player we are after then expect the likes of Huntelaar and even Benzema to be on our shopping list.

Good post - and to be fair i understand the sentiment completely but i just havent seen enough of him to classify him a worthy signing I also think your are underselling the talent out there giving examples of players who are vastly overpriced and both english, and i think £64k is actually alot of money to people in the foreign leagues.(Martins 40-60k??) Honestly speaking i think it is entirely possible to buy a replacement for Owen but at the moment it'd be a huge gamble to sell him like you say with no guaratee of a goalscorer like you would have with Owen. Undecided, very undecided.

Stoke at home when keegan was officially appointed- the atmosphere was unbelievable the whole city was buzzing, would actually put that up there with one of my all time favourite nufc memories, was really something to rememeber.

You reckon he can hit nine goals in eleven games? For us? Ooooooooooh Just 2 short. So, no new contract for Owen then? Not on the same wage. Then you won't keep him. Owen can bugger off on a free after next season, and get a signing bonus at whatever UEFA-challenger club needs a top-quality striker. Those clubs, with no transfer fee, wouldn't have a problem managing his wages at 80k per week (his "cut" wage at NUFC) and he'd be at a club that might actually win something. Even better for him if it's in the NW, as he can sell his second home and the helicopter and save the money, thus making up his loss in wages. Same if he's sold this summer, though at least NUFC would recoup something for him, even if a meagre 7 mil (and Smith cost 6 mil...who sets these fees? It's utter insanity). See, here's what I don't understand: why do people think Owen should/would accept a cut? I wouldn't take a 30% cut in my wages. If I were offered such a deal, after finishing successfully on a major project for my employers (even if I'd had a serious illness and been out before that, say), I would say "F*** you" and find a different employer. Footballers are men too, with just as much (if not more) pride than any of the rest of us, and cutting wages is an insult. If I were in that position, I'd rather take the cut at a NEW employer than for the people who just spit in my face after I busted my arse for them. Especially if the new employer were a better one (more prestigious). Michael Owen is not Alan Shearer -- he has no ties to the Northeast other than his paycheque. Take that away and...what's keeping him here? It's not the scintillating football, or the bright prospects for his international career. His family lives in Wales, he said as much in a recent interview, and he commutes into Newcastle for work. Why insult him? Cutting his pay is an insult, which clearly says "you aren't worth what you're on, we don't really want you to stay." Without Owen, the new formation never would have even been thought up, and Newcastle might've been relegated, or at least further down the league. He's the top scorer in both League and total goals. He's captain. He's the best and most prestigious player at the club. He's finally fit (run of what, 20 matches?) and has scored 7 in the last 9. If the club turn around and offer him an insulting contract it only makes the club look bad. Especially since, let's be honest, Michael Owen is made of Teflon. Nothing sticks to this lad -- just enough rough edges to him (the horses and bit of gambling) to make him human, but he's so clean-cut he squeaks and he's an international and national favourite. Also -- a replacement could cost more than keeping him. Keeping him on the same terms would cost the club approximately 20-22 million over four years, correct? A replacement, if Crouch is being offered for 15 mil and Bent went last season for 17 mil, will cost between 12-15 mil in transfer fee, AT LEAST. So, then, that player would have to agree to wages of less than 7 million over 4 years, which comes to less than 34k/week -- just to break EVEN. This doesn't account for the loss of revenue from Owen, who moves a lot of kit internationally (and nationally) as well as providing royalties for the club for things like PES2008. All of that doesn't even add into the fact that Keegan -- the "messiah" manager -- has said Owen was to be his first and most important signing. If he doesn't get that, it could disrupt the club's relationship with Keegan, so there's the risk of the whole mess of ANOTHER new manager. For f***s sake, just pay the lad his extra money. Should he have been paid 100k/week to begin with? Probably not. But cutting it just doesn't make sense, in any way. Not financially, nor in terms of public relations. I can't imagine Ashley became a billionaire by not seeing the simplicity of this issue. Is he worth it in the long run- keegan would say yes and Owen is proven class but does Owen recent history with nufc justify and increase on an already ludicrous wage? In my opinion no. Suppost its a 3 year contract on £120k p/w that translates to roughly £18m. Personally speaking im not sure Owen has shown to us (not his fault) that he isnt worth that. Now supposing we were to sell him that'd save £5m per year and given us a £7-8m fee as well. Apply that to the same 3 years and you've made yourself £22-23m. Do you think you could get a better striker in with that sort of money? A younger one - it seems to be the route that the board would like to go. Its open to opinion as to which is the better option- id never usually advocate selling our better players but in this case Owen just seems on a unjustifiably high wage and half a season of decent work doesnt get anywhere near to justifying it, especially when there are potentially other better targets out there.

Barnes, Shorey and Zarate - 3 players who would actually be very useful in our team as well.

Looks like Zarate will be on the move then....replacment for Owen? Id take him!

Without wanting to kneejerk too much its pretty damning evidene again, its still unfair to say he's s*** blah blah blah but its not a coinicident that when Fayes been missing in our recent good spell we'ce conceeded 5 goals. He does strike me as an average defender though. Still though - the sooner we partner him with a quality defender.....