GAMEIRO AND GERVINHO, GOING ONCE, GOING TWICE...

On the handle of the official I Wish I Was A Geordie Twitter account (@NUFC_US) this morning, my co-author Tom observed, "Hard to see how #NUFC will land Gameiro the more he talks about Spain, Champions League, etc." Glancing across the blogs and message boards today this looks like a common sentiment.

I don't agree. In fact, I believe with every day that passes without resolution, it becomes more likely that Kevin Gameiro will land in Newcastle.

Gameiro would like to play Champions League football. So would I. That doesn't mean a Champions League club is going to sign him or me. A player's wishes are only half the equation.

In this case, only one Spanish club with Champions League aspirations is reported to be interested in Gameiro: his favored club, Valencia. But there's still no bid reported out of Valencia, a club in financial difficulty that could muster only €6 million for a bid on Gameiro in January, a bid his current club Lorient refused. Absent reports to the contrary, there's no reason to believe Valencia is able to increase its bid considerably to rival Newcastle's reported €10 million offer. So Gameiro may want to be in Valencia, but Lorient wants him in Newcastle. This is known as an impasse.

Paris Saint-Germain has been rumored to be interested in Gameiro, and after a recent takeover by a group from Qatar the club is flush with cash. Maybe too flush. A club with Qatari-level buying power - or any Champions League club, for that matter - might be shopping at a boutique where Gameiro isn't in the front window. Again, no bid has been reported. And the auctioneer is waving his gavel.

Gameiro prefers Valencia; it's repeated in the press almost every day now, as if wishing might make it so. But if Valencia were anywhere close on its bid, this deal would be done. Gameiro's choice may come down to Lorient or Newcastle. I don't think that's much of a choice. But that's me. We'll see what happens with the player.

As for Newcastle's other prime target at the moment, the French sports bible L'Equipe reports today that Newcastle continues to be a likely landing spot for Gervinho, and that his current club, French champions Lille, may already have a fine replacement in its sights, Argentina's Pablo Piatti. It all seems too good to be true. But maybe, for once, there's no such thing as too good to be true for Newcastle United.

UPDATE: The Paris newspaper Le Parisien, quoting a Lorient official, is now reporting that Valencia's bid is stalled at €7 million via installments, Newcastle's offer now stands at €12 million up front, and Lorient are now waiting on PSG.  "Kevin is closer to England," Lorient states. That may not be the way Gameiro sees it, or wants to. But it may be reality.