With the month of July now upon us, Newcastle have confirmed the signings of French duo Sylvain Marveaux and Mehdi Abeid. Both players, like Demba Ba before them, have arrived at the club on free transfers and join Yohan Cabaye amongst the new French contingent. Though all these signings have been hailed as positive moves for the club, many fans are growing increasingly impatient with Mike Ashley’s cautious transfer policy and are desperate to see more players come in.
One player that has been regularly linked to Newcastle is Chelsea’s young striker, Daniel Sturridge. Having enjoyed a successful spell at Bolton for the second half of last season, many see him as the ideal replacement for Andy Carroll and maybe even the famous No. 9 shirt. Chelsea are however playing hard-to-get and have placed a staggering £20 million price tag on his head. A £6 million bid has been lodged by Stoke City, but this is likely to be rebuffed and followed by a bidding war amongst interested parties. Considering Newcastle’s close-fisted approach to transfer dealings, an offer for Sturridge looks unlikely.
There is however another English striker on the market who also enjoyed a successful season last year with an eye-catching 13 league goals. Though turning 30 in November, DJ Campbell has proven to be a tenacious player with an eye for goal, making him joint 5th top goalscorer in the league, on par with Andy Carroll and Chicharito. Not bad company to find yourself in after your first full EPL season. QPR have put an offer on the table and the player is also linked with a move to Martin Jol’s Fulham. Apparently available for as little as £1.25 million, he certainly fits the bill price wise, but whether the Newcastle hierarchy wish to take on a player of his age is another matter and may prove to be a stumbling block.
When discussing our policy with regard to potential incoming strikers, it is worth considering two points. Firstly, Alan Pardew recently commented that he expects Demba Ba to score 15 to 25 goals next term. Secondly there is the likelihood that Newcastle will line up in a 4-2-3-1 or 4-4-1-1 formation with Hatem Ben Arfa occupying a central attacking midfield role in support of a lone striker.
Both of these facts seem to suggest that Ba will be the first choice lone striker with any other signings acting as backup or to be brought on when chasing a game. I cannot imagine Sturridge favouring such a role and neither can I see Newcastle paying over £10 million for an impact sub. At the age of 30, one final chance to play for a club the size of Newcastle may be tempting enough for DJ to consider playing second fiddle to Ba. For £1.25 million Campbell might prove himself to be a very astute signing by the club.
behave!
he may have scored goals last season but i would gamble he has scored less premiership goals and probably has a worse career goals to games ratio than Shola. when given a run and providing he keeps fit shola will get 15 goals per season , have a look at his record and how many goal to full games he has scored then come back and tell me we should still consider buying Cambell!
shola in manys opinion isn’t good enough as 1st choice but has rarely let us down and is certainly a better bet than DJ cambell.
While Shola may get 15 goals performing as a first choice striker is debatable. But the fact is that he wont be first choice for us next season. My view is that we need a striker that can be brought on if needed to play alongside Ba in a ‘little and large’ combo and can perform a poachers role playing off a big target man. Shola cannot perform this role as he is himself a target man. As such, it is not a choice between Campbell or Shola, they are in two separate categories. Moreover, I am not saying that Campbell would be my first choice to perform this duty, but merely that given our recent transfer policy such a move isn’t beyond the realms of possibility and wouldn’t surprise me, after all, DJ is available for 1.25M and could be sold in two years for a similar amount. And goals to full games isn’t an appropriate measure. Are we supposed to ignore sub appearances as if a striker isn’t expected to score when he comes off the bench? Or shouldn’t be blamed if he doesn’t score just because he got 60 instead of 90 minutes?
you take goals per 90 mins not goals per full game therefore sub goals still count
At the end of the day i understand shola is not a impact sub, however i dont see why ashley wont just use the 35million he got off getting rid of our prelific Number 9 and put 20 million on the table for sturridge? he promised us the money but wont pay up when it comes to the crunch! dj campbell would be as much use as a chocolate fire guard and you have to remember if newcastle sign him for 1.25mil it will give the thieving man of ashley the chance to keep his money in his back pocket because he will claim he has brought in 2 strikers!
Fatman needs to learn last seasons lesson ! When we sold AC we still had four strikers allegedly yet none of them were good enough to take on the role of goalscorer supreme. You can have as many forwards as you like at the club but if they’re not good enough what’s the point ?
Either Sturridge or Ba as first choice strikers in a 4-3-3 plus Shola and Best as subs and give Airey a year out on loan with Ranger and Loven seeking pastures new.