When Newcastle complete the estimated £3 million deal for Moussa Sissoko from Toulouse it will take the French contingent at the North East club to ELEVEN. That is by far the most players from an overseas nation in the Premier League. It must be analysed why the club are so active in the French market. Is it because they feel they will get a better deal than they would for an English player of similar talent? It could also be considered that the quality of Ligue 1 is of a greater standard than ever and these players are more than good enough for the demands of the greatest league on Earth.
It is certainly the case that Newcastle have had great success from poaching the best talent from the top French division with players such as Yohan Cabaye and Hatem Ben Arfa being snapped up for a total of only £12 million collectively. This, in modern football terms, is peanuts. These players, along with other bargain signings Demba Ba and Pappis Cisse, were the catalyst for Newcastle finishing in the Europa League places and, for a long period of the season, in contention for a Champions League spot. So with so much success coming in from the Continental market, who is the person responsible for scouting such players. That man is Head Scout Graham Carr.
Carr was bought in under the tutorship of Dennis Wise and has been a revelation for the club since that moment. Almost every key player of the European qualification team of last season was scouted by Carr. When Carr was appointed in early 2010 the club were new to the Premier League, albeit they had only been relegated for one season, and needed sufficient caliber of player to survive. Step forwards Yohan Cabaye and Demba Ba. The latter had failed a medical at Stoke just a week earlier who stated they were not willing to meet the player's wage demands with such a poor history of injuries. This proved to be Stoke's loss and Newcastle's gain.
Newcastle will certainly be hoping that the latest crop of foreign imports will be firing on all cylinders as The Toon are certainly deep in the relegation mire. With all the 'Va Va Voom' of the French stars in the Newcastle squad, surely they will have enough to survive. Right?
MJ.
No comments:
Post a Comment