If anything was evident in yesterday’s goalless draw with Arsenal, it was that Newcastle need more cutting edge up front. Although to be fair to Shola Ameobi, Demba Ba for the first half and Leon Best and Peter Lovenkrands when they came on in the second, they didn’t see much of the ball, when they did they failed to do anything significant with it. Alan Pardew says Newcastle need two players (at least) and while one of those will be a replacement for Jose Enrique, the other has to be a quality striker. One stiker who might be available and didn’t even feature against Newcastle yesterday is Arsenal’s Nicklas Bendtner. Reportedly available for around £8 million, would the Denmark international be worth a punt?
Newcastle are thought to be ready to battle Stoke City for the services of the unwanted 23-year-old. The Magpies were thought to be targeting another front man in the form of Eren Derdiyok who currently plays for Bayer Laverkusen in Germany, even sending chief scout Graham Carr to watch the Swiss international. However, Newcastle have been forced to focus elsewhere after Derdiyok stated he had no intention of leaving Laverkusen, who will play in this season’s Champions League.
“I did not realise they were watching me, but it does not make any difference to how I feel about my future,” he said. “I have a contract with Leverkusen until 2013, and I am extremely happy with that. I have no thoughts about leaving, because I have managed to force my way into the team at Leverkusen, and we now have a Champions League campaign to look forward to. I do not want to miss out on that after helping us to qualify” continued the Swiss player.
It leaves Newcastle to double their efforts in now trying to secure the services of Bendtner, who has been long out of favour at Arsenal, and courted by other clubs, most notably Stoke. The Potters, who were thought to be leading the chase for Peter Crouch, have now grown tired of the Tottenham forward, and have instead offered around £8 million for Dane.
It remains to be seen whether Pardew rivals Pulis for the signature of Bendtner, however in a similar way to Gabriel Obertan, the Dane clearly has some talent but is yet to show it on a regular basis. St James’ Park could be the perfect arena for him to do just that…
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I rate Bendtner, but it depends how much faster he is than Ba, Best etc (well, obviously a lot faster than Shola!!).
The problem against the Arse seemed to be that we were far too static in mf, and there was no link play between mf and attack – just an obvious gap. I felt that we needed a younger Bellamy – that kind of player, and that playing Ba and Ameobi definitely wasn’t working. Obertan helped quite a bit, but not completely. We can play one up front supported by…uhm, Ben Arfa, Gosling or Obertan and at least we have that option.
I don’t know if Bendtner would make a big difference, though he is much more of a goal threat than what we have. We need a flexible formation and link play throughout, so that’s also up to Pardew and he clearly noticed a problem in the first half.
He is crap, another overgrown donkey along the lines of the 3 we already have.
Id sooner they kept the money in the bank until someone decent came along, the thought of having Ameobi, Ba, Bendter for the next 3-4 years is a dreadful one.
Fcuk off Ashley you fat Berkshire cnut.
BAgree
Agree
Agree
Well said
Shola contract is surely the latest wind up from FCB
He could not hurry to the bog if he has the sh*tes
Lazy, Clueless disinterested. Obviously the nob Ranger has taken this as a roll model
Agreed!
We need a top class strong striker or a pretty good pacy striker. Not a mediocre target man like those we have.
Speed not his best attribute – similar to Ba I’d have thought.
Desperately need Ben Arfa as the link.
Pardew clearly has a big job on his hands…
No better than what we’ve got. If self belief was worth anything, he’d be well worth a punt.
Sadly, he’s nowhere near as good as he THINKS he is.
Where was Sylvian Marveaux yesterday?
not fit?
Bendtner is definately better than what we’ve got! His technique is way better than all our frontmen. His pace though ain’t much better but still flies past Strolla Ameobi!
By frontmen I mean Strolla, Lovenkrands, Ranger, Ba and Best. NOT Ben Arfa who is our best player by miles. I am just worried Benny could be as injury prone as Dyer is, let’s all hope not.
Would hope Ba could be a could player when he gets up to speed, but think talent-wise Bendtner is a class above.
Maybe but he has shown at ARSe his attitude is far from the best,Wish all front me had the Passion for the Club Barton shows.
Ben Arfa- Well how can anyone comment on his ability ?
he as not played 180minutes for the club yet, but like you all i hope he is as good as he looks on the little we have seen
not good enough
Maiga who says he wants to come here is a much better all round player than bentner young strong good shot and an excellent header saw him against auxerre and he impressed hes the best of any of the names bandied about