McClaren tells Newcastle midfielder to knock back January move
Steve McClaren has told Cheick Tiote that he wants him to turn down any offers in January and stay at Newcastle, according to reports tonight.
The Ivory Coast has once again been linked with a move to Turkey in January, this time Galatasary the club supposedly interested.
The Daily Star’s north east football correspondent Ian Murtagh says that his information is that McClaren still highly rates the player who was also with him at FC Twente when they won the Dutch title.
Cheick Tiote has had numerous injury problems as well as less than convincing form, yet the Head Coach played him five games on the bounce before injury forced him off against Leicester in November.
McClaren had left out Vurnon Anita and paired Cheick Tiote with Jack Colback for the win over Norwich and then kept the partnership against Sunderland.
Colback’s injury against the mackems then led to Vurnon Anita and Tiote playing together against Stoke, Bournemouth and Leicester.
Newcastle have struggled all season in the middle of the pitch and I wouldn’t be surprised if Steve McClaren does see Cheick Tiote as his best chance of adding a bit of strength to that area if the player can get properly fit (which he clearly wasn’t during that five game run), unless a player could be brought in next month.
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