Yohan Cabaye (now sporting coordinator at Paris Saint-Germain)

[alexf]

Yeah those hoping that Ben Arfa will come into the team and it will soften the blow if Cabaye leaves are forgetting who the manager is We all know in reality it will be back to 4-4-2 with Shola back in the starting line-up.

[George Bailey]

Yeah those hoping that Ben Arfa will come into the team and it will soften the blow if Cabaye leaves are forgetting who the manager is We all know in reality it will be back to 4-4-2 with Shola back in the starting line-up.

 

Dear god as if January isn't a depressing enough month already without this thought...

[sugoinufc]

It's au revoir in my opinion.

At the beginning of the month I browsed a bookie site which was offering odds on January transfers - player and buying club. Even some of the most talked about ones were in the range of 5 to 8/1. Cabaye to PSG was a quite staggering 4/6 which would indicate a large amount of probably well informed wedge had already been placed.  Whatever people say about Ashley he tends not to fail in his objectives, he takes hits along the way and often goes for a bumpy ride but he sticks to his core plans and this fits perfectly with his sell high outlook.

If it is consolation, as things stand at present, I agree with earlier post that this will open the door for HBA to become the main man. Cabaye's roll has been increasingly free in front of a very solid midfield four, there was no way Pardew was having two "free" players and HBA suffered.

HBA given the same role in front of that four will be different, probably more exciting and hopefully as effective.

Anyway we'll see. As we all well know anything can happen round here in January.

 

Kebabs works about 10 times as hard as arfa. It won't happen. And i tend to agree. Think we should play arfa on RW.

[Turnbull2000]

The bigger issue is one of what clubs like us (Villa, Everton, Spurs to an extent) can expect. The holy grail of the CL is an all consuming driver nowadays and unless UEFA sort it out, then the elitist blue print we have for football will only get worse imo. Can any of us expect to develop a team/squad without regular CL football?

 

Quite why they cant put some real value back into the UEFA cup to restore some balance boils my p*ss. I genuinley despise the CL format and the ramifications it is having on the game

 

That's exactly how I've seen it for a couple of years now. The growth of the Champions League and the money on offer has been so monstrous, that the ability to access it has become self-perpetuating for a cohert of 'elite' clubs. Outside of this 'elite', everyone else essentially serves as a feeder club should a top class player emerge.

 

Apart from the occasional break into the top 4, the limit of achievement for ourselves, Everton, Spurs and everyone below is the laughable Europa League - and even then you have to contend with wealthy Champions League clubs being parachuted in as a reward for failure and likely knocking you out.

 

The Champions League has been ruinous to club football IMO. Not that Man City, Chelsea and Arse will care mind.

[BlueStar]

Is it my pessimism or lack of faith in Lee Ryder that makes me not want to bother updating the thread title with this morning's Chronicle's "No bid received" headline?

 

By the way, I blame this guy

 

http://www.newcastle-online.org/nufcforum/index.php/topic,93045.msg4795152.html#msg4795152

[mickthemagpie]

Is it my pessimism or lack of faith in Lee Ryder that makes me not want to bother updating the thread title with this morning's Chronicle's "No bid received" headline?

 

By the way, I blame this guy

http://www.newcastle-online.org/nufcforum/index.php/topic,93045.msg4795152.html#msg4795152

 

Probably already ordered the yellow tape.

[TaylorJ_01]

If by some slim chance (and I mean a slim chance) we managed to get a CL spot for next season, we might be able to pursuade Cabs to sign a contract extension in the summer rather than move to PSG, who can pretty much guarantee CL football, but will Cabs really fancy taking a backward step by going back to Ligue 1 football rather than stay in the EPL with us?

 

Maybe. The only thing we have in our favour is that Ligue 1 sucks enormous balls. The horrible tax regulations would mean he'd need a huge pay rise (before tax) to meet his current wage... I think.

[Dave]

Is it my pessimism or lack of faith in Lee Ryder that makes me not want to bother updating the thread title with this morning's Chronicle's "No bid received" headline?

 

I'm not sure the two claims necessarily contradict each other.

 

[TRon]

I see it very much like the Carroll deal. He's a class player, but if we can get anything like £20m it's a fantastic deal for a player who will be 28 soon and wants out sooner rather than later. I think he'l look better playing for a European club than he will in a Pardew side anyway, so if it goes through I would just put it down to our fantastic scouting and recruitment system. Hopefully we can emulate Spurs and use the money to build a stronger squad every year.

[Neil]

Again, outside looking in, but the bloke actively wants to leave doesn't he? In the immediate term, hands are tied. The broader picture though is in showing a distinct lack of ambition, surely they've directly contributed to him wanting to leave?

 

Echo the comment re: the CL btw. Ruining football season by season.

[AyeDubbleYoo]

Again, outside looking in, but the bloke actively wants to leave doesn't he? In the immediate term, hands are tied. The broader picture though is in showing a distinct lack of ambition they've directly contributed to him wanting to leave.

 

But then again, they signed him in the first place.

[TRon]

Again, outside looking in, but the bloke actively wants to leave doesn't he? In the immediate term, hands are tied. The broader picture though is in showing a distinct lack of ambition they've directly contributed to him wanting to leave.

 

But then again, they signed him in the first place.

 

Exactly. Also how many of the critics of Ashley have harped on about our cheapskate raiding of the French market? His penny pinching does frustrate, especially when it comes to recruiting proper coaches, but the French policy has been a massive success.

[Andy]

Meh. Moving to P-SG seems to be best-case scenario all round like, given that he so actively wants to leave. It's a good move for him, the club will get a decent wedge out of it, and I'm sure most fans would hate for him to move to another premier league club... Shame that we can't (or won't) match his ambitions but then even if we were at our most ambitious we'd still be a million miles away from being able to compete with the likes of P-SG anyway, regardless of which league they play in. £20m seems like a fair price as long as it's reinvested. Hopefully we'll get the likes of Cabella in this month so they can settle in for next season since this season is probably going to fizzle out now anyway.

[NewJerseyMag]

The Champions League is making the EPL like most of the other European leagues: a competition where only 2-3 teams max can have a shot at winning it.

 

However, the bigger problem is the farce that are the fair play rules. How are "ownership" cash gifts allowed to be counted? Man C and Chelski made how much of a loss last year?

 

[Mole_Toonfan]

I see it very much like the Carroll deal. He's a class player, but if we can get anything like £20m it's a fantastic deal for a player who will be 28 soon and wants out sooner rather than later. I think he'l look better playing for a European club than he will in a Pardew side anyway, so if it goes through I would just put it down to our fantastic scouting and recruitment system. Hopefully we can emulate Spurs and use the money to build a stronger squad every year.

 

[Guest Brazilianbob]

Players leaving "feeder clubs" for the clubs that are in the CL, thus producing teams that dominate their respective leagues and the CL, was one of the reasons that the formation of the EPL was welcomed, as the Sky money allowed teams outside the top four to compete financially with the top teams.

 

Unfortunately the top teams embarked on a policy of buying up all the available talent to maintain their top four status by offering massive wages that the smaller feeder clubs could not afford, with the result that the top clubs have simply got riche by qualifying for the CL years on year, and so the status quo of the old first division has been restored, as the lower placed teams simply cannot compete financially.  The only way to combat this is to set a cap on the players wages, but that just isnt going to happen is it!

[Guest frazernufc]

It would be sad to see him go but what can you do, I suppose it would be silly to not accept £20+ mill for him considering his age and hes wants to compete in the CL. Cant really hold it against him wanting to move, he's helped in his part of the French revolution bringing players and no doubt helping players adjust to life here and considering we signing him for 4/5mill he was an absolute bargain. Probably regrets his choice to go on strike but then again no doubt that made him want to make amends and played apart in his form to start off with, we'll certianly miss him but hopefully Cabella would soon fit in.

[Shak]

Just seen this.

 

Seems a bit shit, was inevitable though.

 

Best of luck to him if he does go.

[KDT]

Isn't this all a little bit similar with Arteta when he went to Arsenal?

[Superior Acuña]

WTF. I wasn't even worried about him going, thought it was inevitable in the summer but little chance atm. Wouldn't think he'd want to disrupt this form before the WC either.

[Decky]

I really hope we can keep him for the rest of the season. And during the World Cup as well actually. I was looking forward to seeing an NUFC player do the business for one of the big sides this summer. I can't say I blame him for wanting to leave as well. 8th is pretty much our ceiling for the foreseeable future and players like Cabaye can do better. I wish him well if he goes and he'll still be one of my favourite players (if he doesn't go to another BPL side that is).

[AyeDubbleYoo]

WTF. I wasn't even worried about him going, thought it was inevitable in the summer but little chance atm. Wouldn't think he'd want to disrupt this form before the WC either.

 

Agreed, I also didn't think PSG would actually bid.

[Skirge]

Ashley will be worried though that PSG may choose to go after Hazard instead, sure other clubs like Arsenal and Man Ure would still be interested but Yo wants to go to PSG.

We will drag it out as much as we can trying to get as much as we can but at some point someone is going to have to fold.

[Skirge]

Kinnear just told SSN "NO nufc player will be leaving this window"

[Guest bimpy474]

SSN. JFK saying no player to leave. Cabella only chased if we get an injury. Basle winger Salah interesting us. De Jong, Gladbach want £10m, we want a loan deal before permanent.