Charles N’Zogbia has been subject to a great deal of speculation this summer and has been linked to the likes of Sunderland, Arsenal, Aston Villa and Newcastle. Aston Villa are thought to be favourites as they seek to replace Ashley Young and have made a firm bid for the Frenchman. He’s also been linked strongly to his old club Newcastle, where I can’t help but feel that he’d be a hit once more.
It’s somewhat frustrating then that Wigan’s Owner has slapped a £20m price-tag upon N’Zogbia’s head. Speaking to The Sun, Dave Whelan said: “I see some players being sold for £20m or £30m and Zoggy’s better. We’ve had bids but they’re nowhere near our valuation”.
Whilst the papers and other sources have previously put an £8-9m price tag on his head, Wigan appear to be playing hardball and will look to get the best price possible out of the player. In some respects I understand. If he was British, it wouldn’t be too difficult to sell him for around £15-20m and when you look at the valuation of players like Jordan Henderson, it’s not hard to understand where Whelan is coming from.
Whilst Newcastle have a fair amount of cash saved up after selling Andy Carroll for £35m last January, I doubt that they’ll want to spend that kind of money on N’Zogbia. After all, for £20m you can go out into other European Leagues and find players with even more quality.
One thing that Whelan has failed to mention is that N’Zogbia only has 12 months available on his contract and should thus be available for a cut-price. That’s why Arsenal allowed Gael Clichy to go to Manchester City for just £6m and it’s also why Samir Nasri only has a £20m price-tag at the moment. To value N’Zogbia at the same amount as Nasri is just absurd.
Under the same logic, Newcastle should be holding out for £20m from Jose Enrique. What’s more, it’s clear that N’Zogbia wants to leave the club. To hold him back by placing an absurd price-tag on his head smacks of immorality.
N’Zogbia would arrive at Newcastle with a reputation after his behaviour last time he was at the club. You have to acknowledge, however, that he’s got the quality and a winning mentality (he almost single handedly kept Wigan up last season) to aid Newcastle as they build for the future. If Wigan make N’Zogbia available for a fair price then I hope Alan Pardew pursues his signature. If not, then Newcastle should steer clear.
Written by Harry Cloke
People who write articles such as yourself Harry should learn to get your facts straight. If you actually watched or heard the interview with Whelan regarding Charles Nzogbia at no time did he say we want £20 million for NZogbia. All he said was that in the current market players such as Downing, Henderson are going for £20 million wich Whelean in his own view doesn’t think are in Nzogbia’s class bracket and therefore NZogbia is worth £20 million -30 million. He then went onto say it’s unfortunate that he’s in his last year of contract and therefore will have to be sold at cut down price. He also said in his interview that he doesn’t understand why clubs such as Liverpool have gone for Henderson etc when NZogbia is being sold at half the price and was actually encouraging prospective buyers too look at Nzogbia because he’s a bargain and that he deserves a bigger club. This article is another prime example of shoddy journalism.
The valuation that is actually on his head is between 9 million – 12 million.
Well worth a punt
who cares not me did not want him anyway.