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Newcastle Need To Stand Firm On Player Valuations

11 years ago
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There has to be a line drawn somewhere over how much to pay for a player and, personally, I think Newcastle have already offered a figure in excess (€8m) of Gomis’s worth if reports are to be believed.

The problem is that Newcastle are looking to buy a player from Lyon, who have a transfer model very similar to the one that Newcastle United are trying to emulate – buy young, talented players whilst they are cheap and then sell them only when you receive a bid well in excess of what they are worth.

Gomis is in the last year of his contract and, under normal circumstances, would be worth about €12m, which means that he will be worth about €6m with 12 months to run on his contract. By Christmas, he will have a value of about €2.5m and he will be worth zero by the time his employment ends. Look at how much Newcastle picked up Moussa Sissoko up for, six months from the end of his contract – €2m, whilst he is now worth €12m under contract. Signing on fees complicate matters quite a bit in terms of true cost but, in terms of value to Lyon, they are being far more unreasonable than Newcastle for a player they are desperate to sell.

Due to their need for a quality striker, Newcastle have taken a pragmatic approach and have probably offered a little too much for Gomis if they have truly bid €8m. If that hasn’t been accepted, I’m sure they will be back in at Christmas or next year for a fraction of that and, if the player is keen, they’ll get him. The football transfer market requires long-term planning and clubs have to look ahead, not just at the current window.

That’s all very well but it doesn’t solve Newcastle’s immediate need for a striker.

There is talk of a move for Loic Remy but that looks like a difficult deal to do because

a) he is on QPR “panic” wages already and

b) any deal would have to be structured to plan for a rape conviction if he is found guilty.

Does a Remy signing count as a bolstering the strike force? Not really, because there is no way of knowing if he will be available to play since he may get banged up in six months time. Whilst the club can protect itself financially, it can’t protect itself from losing a vital player when it won’t be able to bring in a replacement due to the transfer window being closed.

Is Bent the answer? I don’t know, I’m not sure he’d play well with Papiss Cisse and he looks like a player on the downward curve of his career to me. There are plenty of players out there, however, and Newcastle don’t have to buy one of Remy, Gomis or Bent.

Personally, I’d much rather go for someone like Siem de Jong, who can play as a no 10 or as a striker in his own right as he did with Ajax last season. Allied with Gouffran and Cisse, that would see us through to Christmas when we could pick Gomis up for virtually nothing.

Siem de Jong has expressed an interest in staying at Ajax but I doubt they could match what we’d pay and we would probably get him for his reported transfer value of €10m because he’s into the last two years of his contract. That’s normally the optimum time to cash in for a club because, as each month passes, the player’s value drops.

Siem de Jong is just my personal preference though, and I’ve no idea whether he would fit in with how Pardew wants the team to play – he’s certainly very different in style to Bent or Gomis. The main point I’m trying to make is that I can think of better ways of spending €10m than simply to cave in and meet Lyon’s asking price.

You can follow Waseem on Twitter @WShak1

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