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Daryl Murphy agrees amazing deal with Nottingham Forest

7 years ago
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Daryl Murphy left Newcastle United’s training camp and flew back to the UK on Thursday.

Sky Sports reporting that he has taken his medical at Nottingham Forest and will be formally announced shortly as their new signing.

Forest lost star striker Britt Assombalonga for £15m in recent days and were in desperate need of a replacement.

With 50 Championship goals in his final three seasons at Ipswich, Daryl Murphy has clear pedigree in the second tier and even in only seven league starts for Newcastle plus eight appearances off the bench, Daryl Murphy was a real asset – scoring five goals and grabbing one assist.

Many people were surprised at the nature of his Newcastle deal, the Magpies paying £3m plus a £1m bonus if they got promotion, as well as a two year contract for a 33 year old, no doubt on decent wages.

Well that deal has surely been trumped, especially on the player’s side of things.

Sky Sports say the transfer fee is around the £2m mark as previously widely reported but the real amazing part is that Daryl Murphy is signing a three year contract.

When the deal ends in June 2020 he will be well past his 37th birthday, strikers tending to be easing down well before then.

It shows the power that players have in this transfer market, especially goalscorers. Many other Championship clubs were after Murphy and so when it came to negotiations the player was in a very strong position, explaining why he came out of them with a three year deal, no doubt on at least the wages he was on at Newcastle United.

Good luck to him though as he comes over as a very honest committed player and last season didn’t suggest he was slowing down when Newcastle fans did get to see him, I’m sure he will do a great job for Forest next season and still be a decent player the following one, although not too sure about the final one when he’ll be blowing out 37 candles on his birthday cake!

Last month, Daryl Murphy confirmed that as expected, he would be leaving Newcastle after just a single season at St James Park.

Rafa Benitez having thanked him for his contribution in the Championship title winning season but telling Murphy that Newcastle were now going to sell him.

The Irish international saying that he knew the score when he signed and couldn’t praise Rafa’s management skills enough.

Daryl Murphy – 11 June 2016:

“Rafa is a top, top manager. He texted me after the Uruguay game to say well done.

“I spoke to him last week about my future and he thanked me for what I had done and said they were going to listen to a few offers. I said ‘that’s fine’.

“I always knew I had been brought in there to do a specific job, to help the club get promoted. I had no illusions that I was going to be starting for Newcastle in the Premier League if we got up.

“I have got another year left on my contract and I will go back there for pre-season and just look at my options.

“Last season was good, though. Rafa managed everything very well.

“We had a lot of big name players and maybe if it had been another manager he wouldn’t have got the best out of them as there would have been players sulking.

“But he used every player in the squad at the right time so everybody was fighting for a place.

“When the other strikers got injured, I knew I had to produce the goods for him, and I did, getting three goals in three games.

“We got some good results. I didn’t start many games – just seven in the league, nine in all competitions.

“But I scored six times and felt I deserved my medal whereas before, when I was at Celtic, we won the Cup but I barely featured and didn’t take a medal then because I had not earned it.

“This time I played my part.

“And I have Rafa to thank for that. To work with him, you see at first-hand how good he is and realise why he has such a superb CV.

“His attention to detail, everything is spot-on. He wants to know everything that is going on at the club. He makes time for everyone.”

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