Samuel bid rejected, but at least it shows that Newcastle have some money!
Posted on June 24th, 2010 | 112 Comments |
One thing that very nearly slipped under the radar was the fact that Newcastle have apparently tabled a bid of around £1 million for Bolton’s versatile defender, JLoyd Samuel, according to Sky Sports anyway.
Apparently this offer was deemed as unacceptable by Bolton Wanderers for a player who is 29-years old, has only featured once under his current boss, and has only 12 months remaining on his contract at The Reebok. Funny that, as paying a seven figure sum for Samuel would be far more than I would be willing to offer for him, especially as he is only really a squad player and never really features in their first team.
Realistically he would only be a squad player at St James’ Park, that is if the move ever did come off. We would have a player who can cover across the back four, although his ‘speciality’ is in playing left-back, which would mean we would finally have some cover for Jose Enrique for the first time since god knows when.
But there is more to this than simply the suggestion of signing a player. To me, something rings true about this rumour, as in all honesty it is hardly a huge exclusive to shout about, or one that would create a lot of interest. So when you look at it like that, there could be some indication as to what our plans are for transfers this window.
First off, Samuel doesn’t fit into this much speculated about but never actually confirmed age policy thingy where we would apparently only be looking to sign players under the age of 26. Well I think it was 26, although the age can vary depending on who is telling the story of that said policy. So if we signed him then it kind of throws that thought out of the window.
Then there is the monetary aspect of the deal, and in particular the fact that it means we would be spending some if we did sign Samuel. Inevitably it would then raise the question of whether we have more to spend, how much will we spend etc etc, although at least it would go some way to clarifying just what “no new capital outlay” actually means for good.
I’m not going to knock the player, as I do think he would be a capable backup defender, and if Chris Hughton wants him then that is fair enough. Samuel has made near on 250 Premier League apparances in his career so far, which you don’t get to do if you can’t cut it, and he has always struck me as being a solid player in fairness.
Of course, this is just more speculation at the moment, and the next few days will give us a greater idea as to whether or not there is any truth in this particular rumour. It seems to have caught on, so the chances are that Hughton will be asked about it at some point by the press.
I guess we’ll just have to wait and see, again!
NUFCBlog Author: toonsy
toonsy has written 643 articles on this blog.
We are willing to spend £1 million on back up, that’s a bit flash :)