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Only One Vacancy Flashing At Newcastle United

10 years ago
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It’s been a long time coming; 6 signings, money spent and possibly more to come.

This summer’s transfer window has so far proved successful with the club making early moves, getting their business done. Allowing Alan Pardew to give his side plenty of time to gel, and mould as many of them as possible into future Newcastle United left backs.

Dare I say it, but even at this early stage of the summer, things don’t look so bad.

In the goalkeeping department we can all agree that all is okay. The customary summer rumours that Tim Krul could be off to the likes of AC Milan or Arsenal have again proved to be fruitless, while Rob Elliot has shown himself to more than a worthy back up. Plus, the progress of Freddy Woodman appears to be promising after he and Adam Armstrong helped England to win the European Under-17 Championship finals in Malta during the summer of 2014.

The defensive line is arguably our most debated position at the moment. First and foremost, even though Alan Pardew would obviously disagree, I think it’s fair to say that we have enough left-backs at the club, with 5 competent left-backs; Santon, Haidara, Dummett, Ferguson and Jack Colback.

At right-back we see a similar situation where another signing isn’t desperately needed. A well done must go to the club for replacing Debuchy quickly and efficiently with Daryl Janmaat, who showed plenty of promise for the Dutch at this summer’s World Cup. Add to Janmaat the return of Ryan Taylor from injury, as well as the versatility of both Vurnon Anita and MYM, things don’t look so bad. This could also be a big year for young Swiss full-back Kevin Mbabu, I for one would see him pushing for matchday squad places at some point.

Losing MYM would be a huge loss, still at a fairly young age of 25 there is a lot more to come from MYM.  Especially with the versatility that he brings to the side at left-back, right-back and occasionally just in front of the back four. If we were to sell, at a rumoured cheap price of £4/5 million, we may be saying goodbye to a future NUFC skipper and leader of the French connection.

The reliance on our skipper Coloccini goes without saying, whether he stays fit and consistent will have a massive impact on where we end up at the end of season. That brings us to our two other, English centre halves. Both Taylor and Williamson have shown themselves to be loyal servants to the club, and when called upon have not often disappointed. Although the jury appears to be out on the performances of Steven Taylor, particularly since the Aguero incident last season, I still think his know-how in and around the dressing room is crucial for the football team. Even when he isn’t playing, his love and passion for the club is hugely important – especially with the loss of other dressing room leaders Ameobi, Cabaye & Jonas.

Do we need another centre half? In my opinion, no. It is not a necessity, and although the likes of Micah Richards or Mauricio Isla would be welcomed additions, I would like to think our financial capital could be spent further up the field.

In the middle of the park we really can’t complain – Sissoko, Anita, Colback, Bigirimana, Obertan, Tiote, De Jong, and Cabella. There is competition for places, experienced international footballers, leaders, ball players, hard tacklers, youth and experience. Yes, another addition could be massive and add real threat to the side, whether this comes in the form of Clement Grenier or a more defensive player in Jack Rodwell. We are strong in numbers, an area that we should not come up short in this season.

Our main negative being the whole Hatem Ben Arfa situation. HBA still remains one of the best players I have seen to play for Newcastle United. He is in my opinion, still the best player presently at the football club. Obviously we as fans are unaware of what happens inside the club and on the training ground, however it seems like we aren’t working hard enough to keep HBA. Surely an attacking three of De Jong, HBA and Remy Cabella deserves a chance?

Up front, with Emmanuel Riviere and Papiss Cisse our only strikers (excluding youngsters Campbell, Armstrong and Perez), the striking department is somewhere we desperately need to improve before the deadline.

Having lost Ameobi, Remy and De Jong we should still be looking to bring in another striker, maybe two, depending on how much AP wants to use the likes of Perez, Campbell and Armstrong. It remains painfully  obvious that we are in need of another centre forward, a quality centre forward, who will guarantee goals – Carroll, Aubemayang, Ings, Gameiro, Deeney, J.Campbell?

Whoever it may be, if we don’t bring in a quality centre forward it could mean that all the hard work done already this summer could go to waste.

Alan Pardew, over to you…

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