“If it ain’t broke don’t fix it.” “We have had success with French players before so lets go there again.” This would appear to be the attitude taken by Newcastle United in this transfer window. They have got so many French players now they’ll have to start serving croissants and crepes on the terraces. But after this latest influx from across the channel, surely we should be asking just whether this is a sensible approach to take.
It is difficult to ignore the fact that Newcastle are in a relegation scrap unless things turn around pretty quickly. After such a wonderfully successful season last campaign, it has all gone very wrong very quickly on Tyneside. They made no significant investments to the playing staff in the Summer and have since been struck by injuries, poor form and a fair slice of bad luck. January came and the misery deepened. Dumped out of the FA Cup by Championship Brighton, and star man Demba Ba hotfooted it to Chelsea faster than you could say Au Revoir. Clearly Newcastle needed to bring players in during this window and bring in players they have. All of them French, all of them relatively cheap and above all else, all of whom with no Premier League experience.
This does not sound to me like a good strategy in a relegation fight. Newcastle have brought in defenders Mathieu Debuchy, Mapou-Yanga-Mbiwa, and Massadio Haidara, striker Yoan Gouffran and probably midfielder Moussa Sissoko as well. These are talented players for sure. However it is only natural that they should need a bit of time to adjust to the English game. Newcastle don’t have that time.
They need these players to hit the ground running or face the prospect of a serious survival scrap. This is the risk that you take when signing players from foreign leagues. There is no guarantee these players will shine in England and I would have thought that in the position Newcastle find themselves in, a few British players would have been better targets.
Preferably a few players with experience of a relegation battle. It’s a different kind of pressure. James McCarthy at Wigan is a player I would have thought Newcastle could have taken a look at. He’s survived relegation on a few occasions and is a very talented player.
There have been rumours linking the Toon Army with West Ham’s James Tomkins. That would be a prudent signing for them. He is a lad who has suffered relegation and knows English football inside out. It is those kind of players I would want to see in my side when the going gets tough. I would be concerned about the fight of this French contingent and how quickly they can adapt to the Premier League.
I also think Newcastle should be criticised for their transfer policy. They have become fixated with French players. It would seem that they have forgotten that other nations can play a bit of football. Its not as though France are the powerhouse of world football at the moment. Their league is average at best and their national team is a total shambles. Whilst it would seem that some reasonable transfer fees can be agreed with French clubs, I think trying to look for some different kind of players from different parts of the world would be a good idea.
In addition to this, there must be a risk of divisions in the squad between the French players plus the French speaking Africans and the rest of the nationalities in the squad. Having such a large batch of players from one language group, but not from the clubs home nation strikes me as potentially problematic, especially seeing as the French now outnumber the English.
That cannot be acceptable. Count up Newcastle’s British players and you would struggle to make double figures. Count how many make the first eleven and you would struggle to get off the mark. This is not good for the English game. Arsenal were roundly criticised a number of years ago for fielding entirely foreign elevens and Newcastle will almost certainly be doing the same. They are showing no inclination to bring through British youngsters or invest in young British talent, and for this, Pardew and the board should be strongly criticised.
Time will tell whether this latest French invasion at Newcastle will pay dividends. If these players adapt quickly, things will be just fine. If not, then the Magpies are in a real scrap and we’ll see just how tough these players are then.
Introducing the neat little app that’ll pay you to view content tailored to your interests:
ThisisFutbol.com are seeking new writers to join the team! If you’re passionate about football, drop us a line at “thisisfutbol.com@snack-media.com” to learn more.
Your claim that Newcastle aren’t investing in British Youth is a lazy piece of journalism.
More money than ever is being spent on our Academy, but one can’t expect the fruits of that to be instantly felt. Adam Campbell is a local lad and an extremely promising prospect to name but one.
Newcastle are far from alone in looking overseas for first team talent and who can blame them? In a world where Jordan Henderson costs £18m (when he’s worth about £5m at most) where’s the incentive to buy British when you can pick up Yohan Cabaye or Hatem Ben Arfa for £4-5m?
Newcastle needed 4/5 decent players in and the sad matter of fact is they could not get the same quality in English players for that price. 2 French int. 1 under 21 int. a player with potential and possibley another French int. for under £20 million quid.
Also Newcastle have fielded 13 English players this season..
Arsenal have 6 English players in their first team squad to Newcastle 13.. you really do talk poo
this is a joke right ? we just picked up the majority of that bunch for a few million more than manure are paying for an english lad with no premiership experience and one international cap ..
mbiwa is the french equivalent of a what rio ferdinand was when manure bought him , young , plenty of first team experience , international caps , captian of his team and by everyones assumption international centre back and maybe captian for the next ten year .. 29million 10 year ago for rio , 6-7million for mbiwa now ..
you do the math , there is no value in the english market , sugesting we have got it wrong with these international class players and should have picked up journeymen who have been relegated or flirted with relegation sends out what kind of message for a team that was challenging the top 4 all season long last year ?
On the day that a young British player, who has had many (IMO far too many) chances off and on the pitch, is arrested for alleged rape you expect the club to put all its faith in bringing through British “talent”?
None of the potential British signings you mention (and it is not even likely that Tomkins is available) are as good as the French players signed, or in Sissiko’s case about to sign. These are top quality internationals who have played at the highest level in France and in European competitions. Forget the “cheap” price (rather a cheap dig actually which ignores the fact that most are out of contract at the end of the year) – they are better than anything available in Britain right now that would be prepared to sign for Newcastle, except maybe Hooper.
Is there any guarantee that they will adapt quickly to the Prem? Not at all, and it would scare me senseless if we had 4 debutantes starting against Villa. But we have a much stronger squad and we now have options. Collo and STaylor can start at Villa, with Mbiwa on the bench instead of Williamson. Santon can play with Haidara on the bench. Gouffran could start wide left, and keep Ameobi on the bench as an impact sub to replace him later, especially to play more direct if we go behind. Debuchy has already started two games and is showing his qualities – how we wish we had got him over the line in the summer!
Sissiko though (if he signs in time) can go straight in and play alongside Cabaye. Wonderful, wonderful player, and the pair of them will terrorise the midfield of every club outside of the top 6.
And hopefully Ranger will never ever sit on our bench again.
Newcastle should be criticised for not stealing youngsters off lower league clubs and putting them in the reserves? Yeah, that would really help English football.
They have Sammy Ameobi, Adam Campbell, James Tavernier, Paul Dummett and Remie Streete all on the fringes of the first team and introduced in cup games.
Why sign players from relegation candidates if a team wants to stay up? It’s the stupidest myth in football. How many teams did Nigel Quashie save from relegation? It’s far more useful to sign players that can play football than to sign players who can’t but have experience of relegation