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Absence of trio should make Pardew think twice about Newcastle’s summer transfer plans

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A week on Saturday we’ll be able to see what has become a rare sight at Newcastle in recent weeks: Cheik Tiote wearing a Newcastle United shirt. The Ivory Coast international will finally return from the African Cup of Nations and line up for Newcastle against Wolves at St James’ Park at the end of the month, something he hasn’t done since Wednesday 4th January; a match in which Tiote and Newcastle were awesome in a 3-0 win against Manchester United. So, with another African Cup of Nations taking place next year, should Alan Pardew limit his African contingent to three?

An African Cup of Nations in 2013? Cue cries of: ‘but doesn’t the tournament take place every two years?’ Usually it does, but the timing of it is being shifted so that it runs in alternate years to the European Championships. So instead of having a year off, they’ve scheduled an extra tournament in South Africa for this time next year. So, provided Tiote is still a Newcastle player in 12 months’ time, then Mr T will be jetting off to Africa again.

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The consequences of that could be even worse than they were this time, as Newcastle were slightly fortunate with how the tournament panned out. As Senegal were knocked out prematurely, Demba Ba and Papiss Cisse got to return early, which greatly benefitted Newcastle against Aston Villa, if not for the match versus Tottenham Hotspur. However, Tiote is only just coming back and we don’t know in what sort of physical shape he’ll be for the Wolves match, but with Ivory Coast losing the final on penalties, mentally he’ll be struggling.

The fact that there’s a 2013 African Cup of Nations should have an impact on Pardew’s summer transfer plans. The effect of losing Tiote, although missing Cabaye also didn’t help, against Spurs was clear for all to see and provides a warning, if it were needed, of the damaging impact of the ACON. While there are bargains to be had in Ligue 1 with African players making waves, come January / February 2013 they’ll be off to South Africa.

This doesn’t mean signing African players is a no go, but Pardew should definitely consider it when making his summer purchases. While Newcastle might have racked up four wins in Tiote’s absence, they have also been dumped out of the FA Cup by Brighton and conceded five goals twice on trips to London. To lose Tiote, Ba, Cisse and another key player or two next year, potentially for the duration of the tournament, could see the same issues crop up again.

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