Shay Given is being linked heavily with both Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City, the rumours continue to sweep the tabloids and realistically with Shay unsettled at the club and no longer refuting the claims suggesting he wants to leave, he could be walking away from Newcastle in the not too distant future.
So who are we going to replace him with? Steve Harper... the obvious choice would be for him to step up and finally gain some much deserved recognition amongst the club he has patiently stayed at waiting in the wings, but no, he too is linked away from the club after failing to extend his current contract and who can blame him? So the Sunday papers are reporting that David James is Kinnear's replacement target for a fee of approximately £3m, a deal which is now in the hands of Dennis Wise.
The People is reporting that Given will go to City for £10m, Harper will go to Spurs for £4 and Newcastle will bring in James for £3m on a 2 year deal, giving Ashley a tidy profit of £11m during this window.
if, and its a big if, those figures were correct, james plus 11m for our two keepers would be good business, provided it was done to raise funds to go towards two fullbacks and a centre mid.
didnt james set a premier league record last season for clean sheets? ok, it takes more than one man to keep the other team from scoring, but think about it. the league winning sides from man utd, arsenal and chelsea have all had fewer clean sheets than pompey last season. he is a good keeper.
i'd sooner get shay to stay, but that doesnt sound likely beyond either this window or the next
honestly i wouldn't replace Shay with a signing, i think that Harper is certainly good enough to keep net for another season, and of course, its about time we let this Krul fella live up to some of his hype....and of course we have Fraser Foster and Ole Soderburg kicking about in the ressies an all. If Given leaves, when, it will be a kick in the teeth emotionaly but we won't lose much talent wise!
This is classic NUFC over the last few seasons. Sell a dependable servant; replace him with an older player who is a downgrade at 30% of the original fee.
Would much rather have Harper than James. Don't know how James is going to end up any happier about being at NUFC than Given is, though.
You would think James being a regular international would be wanting paid more a week than harper is asking in his new contract, surely a 1 million profit isn't really worth such a transfer
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