CORGNET DISCOUNTS MOVE TO NEWCASTLE, SORT OF

In the wake of last week's report in the French sports daily L'Equipe that Newcastle United was investigating a bid for rising Dijon midfielder Benjamin Corgnet, the player has downplayed - though not in the strongest terms - a January move to Newcastle. The comments came in a radio interview with another dependable media source for transfer news in France, RMC (Radio Monte Carlo).

"I read things in newspapers, but there's nothing concrete on my agent's side, so I'm going on vacation in peace," Corgnet told RMC when asked about Newcastle, as relayed today by various online sources out of France. "I'm in a club I like. We'll see. Ideally I'll stay at Dijon at least the rest of this season." As rumor denials go, that ranks higher than the minimum a player would say to keep his current club and/or fans happy, but not by much.

Corgnet scored yet again on a right-place-right-time goal in Dijon's 2-2 draw Wednesday at Auxerre, moving him to 7th on the Ligue 1 scoring list. As a developing 24-year-old scorer not widely known outside France - though he's reportedly been scouted by Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United - Corgnet would seem to fit Newcastle's current transfer mold. However this blog's most trusted personal source for French football observation, the Twitter maven known as @El_Mantis, opines that since Corgnet was plying his trade on France's fifth tier only two years ago, his readiness for the Premier League is an open question at best. We'll keep trying to get peeks at Corgnet ourselves to see if this Dijon sensation could cut the mustard - ha! ha! - in England.