PIETERS OR CISSOKHO? DUTCH MONEY IS ON BRIDGE

Alan Pardew was in Holland yesterday to watch PSV defender and Newcastle target Erik Pieters hold solid in a 3-0 blanking of ADO Den Haag. But while the price tag on Pieters remains steady, the price tag on stopgap option Wayne Bridge is falling, with Manchester City reportedly offering to pick up half his wage. The Dutch press knows enough about Newcastle United and its ownership to predict the end of this story.

"If PSV had agreed to an offer of 5 million euros, Pieters would already be playing for Newcastle," wrote Holland's largest daily, De Telegraaf, this morning. "But PSV wants a higher amount. For the English it is now more financially attractive to rent Bridge." De Telegraaf's story isn't sourced, but the paper is respected, and the article rings with skepticism borne from knowledge. Bridge's wage for the year under City's offer would be below £2 million, and while the fee was previously reported as £2 million, if they're bargaining on the wage, they may be bargaining on the fee as well. Bridge could come in at half the cost of Pieters for the year.

All we have to say about that is: oh-oh.

Meanwhile, the prospect of Aly Cissokho's departure is not exactly causing fans at Lyon to rend their garments in distress. Today the Lyon blogger at Football.fr has this to say, basically, about the weekend's Cissokho-to-Newcastle rumors: good riddance. He also speculates that Cissokho's 52nd-minute disappearance in last week's Champions League match against Rubin Kazan was due to manager fatigue, not muscle fatigue.

On the Modibo Maiga front, in an article that has now ducked mostly behind a paywall, eastern France's regional daily L'Est Republicain is reporting that club and player are still at a standoff over his desired transfer to the Premier League, with Sochaux telling Newcastle to back the eff off. With such an unwilling seller, this buy, like Pieters', is in obvious question.

We can still hope for a more satisfying climax to the summer than Wayne Bridge on loan. PSV is in the kind of dire financial shape that might eventually soften their resistance to Newcastle's characteristic hard line. No other serious suitors for Pieters are being reported, as yet. But we know Mike Ashley values soccer players with about as much sophistication as Wal-Mart values houseware. With an alternative to Pieters available for more than half the quality at around half the price, we can assume the bargaining is finished on Newcastle's end, with only nine days of summer breeze yet to come through the transfer window.

Comments

[Ryan]

Ughh, the same old stuff over and over by Ashley. As I have said before, it's not that he wants good deals, it's that he won't budge off of his offer. I can see if they are asking 5-10 million more, than he says no. But in Pieters case, 2 million? I realize Bridge would be cheaper THIS YEAR, but we all know if he comes on loan we won't make it permanent, even if we have the chance to. So rather than tie up a young LB for at least 2-3 years, Ashley continues to be cheap. It would be one thing if we didn't have the 2 million, but we have PLENTY of cash right now. Even if he pays an extra 2 million for Pieters, and pays a bit extra for a striker, he still can pocket an excess amount of cash.

Plus, he gives out bonuses to golfers and sporting goods employees, but can't pony up a little extra for a good, young player? 2 million shouldn't be that hard, instead of losing it at the casino in a night out, he could put it into the club.

I think a serious underlying current is here. Yes, we got Ben Arfa, Marveaux, Ba, and Abeid. However, EVERY serious link (not just the rumors) that have been connected to Newcastle have failed. Erding, Gameiro, and it seems now Pieters, Cissokho (who would cost more than Pieters yet Ashley is willing to pay more apparently, just not for Pieters), and Maiga. It's bad when EVERY bid fails. That means talks weren't that serious, or the club is trying to be cheap. MA knows as well as everyone, that prices may drop in the last day or two of the window. Problem is, other teams can swoop in and take your players, or at the very least enter you into a bidding war that may see the club pay more than had they bought him earlier. We all know Newcastle under Ashley would likely lose a bidding war. The other thing that can happen is that time runs out, as we saw with Andy Carroll. Given how things have transpired the past year, I'm not at all confident that Ashley and company could get a deal done in the waning hours of a window under the gun.

Honestly, my hope has gone from signing two players, to one, to none. It may sound pessimistic, but we all know Pardew will use his normal "we felt our current players can fill the gaps in light of the fact that the players available were not worth the price" schtick. Which leaves us thin at depth, and disastrous if we have lots of injuries. Maybe MIke Ashley could swear off some of the McDonald's cheeseburgers that he eats and instead put that burger money into a fund to buy 2 players before the end of the window. Mike Ashley, for once in your life, just pay a little extra to get good players in the door. You can't always expect other clubs to be the ones that make concessions to you every time. And if you do that, we will never be in the top 10, as you told Pardew you wanted. If you give him an under talented squad, you can't expect him to make diamonds out of it. I think the players we have are supremely talented, but we don't have enough talent to challenge for a top 8 spot IMO.

[Rob Moyer]

Mike Ashley would be a good addition to the Pawn Stars show.

[Ryan]

@Rob: HAHAHA, good point. I like that show, I am thinking they would never buy anything with him bartering though. I bet he even tries to talk down the price of those Triple Whoppers at Burger King that he loves to eat every day.