The will he won’t he leave scenario of Danny Simpson at Newcastle United has been rumbling on for a while now and will come to a head in the summer when a final contract offer will be put on the table. If Simpson is made available then there will be plenty of suitors in the Premier League, but in the Sunday papers there is reported to be one surprise club keeping tabs on the Newcastle defender – Chelsea.
25-year-old right back Simpson does not have the best of relationships with the majority of Newcastle fans. Whilst solid, a lot of the Toon Army don’t see him at the level needed to take the club forward. This was reflected by the level of abuse that he received from fans on Twitter, which led Danny to quit the social networking site. Fans have also been disappointed that he’s turned down the offer of a new deal, given that huge raise that it sees from his current contract.
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Many would argue that he’s not even Newcastle’s most talented right back. James Perch has been like a new player in the middle of the park this season and when he replaced the injured Simpson on the right side of defence against Chelsea he did extremely well, and is likely to line up there against Manchester City this afternoon. And in the long term the Magpies would be looking for someone like Erik Pieters to come in at left back and Davide Santon to slot in on the right.
Given Simpson’s popularity, or more accurately lack of popularity, on Tyneside, it is something of a surprise that the Mirror are reporting that Chelsea are keeping tabs on Simmo. Chelsea aren’t the strongest in the right back area, with Jose Bosingwa somewhat suspect defensively even if he is dangerous going forward, Bransilav Ivanovic is perhaps more comfortable in the middle of the back four and Paulo Ferreira, at 33, is getting on a bit.
You couldn’t see Danny Simpson being anything more than a squad player at Stamford Bridge though, and for a club like Chelsea and the ambitions that they have, would the Blues really want him?
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