I Wish I Was A Geordie - The Blog of Newcastle United in the US

Newcastle's Transfer Priorities

 The start of the season is just three weeks away. With it comes a rapid-fire sequence of Premier League and Europa League matches. Yet for all the persistent suggestions of transfers, both incoming and outgoing, the summer has been relatively quiet at St. James' Park.

Knowing that the club is unlikely to secure every player it, or fans, would realistically want to have, how should Newcastle prioritize the last month of the transfer window? In order of importance, here are my suggestions - the comment section is, as always, open for yours.

Center back: It has been surprising to see Newcastle working this market so passively. Many supporters think the club has clandestinely signed Douglas from FC Twente, who needs to remain employed in the Netherlands for another month to become eligible for the national team. Whether or not Douglas is already signed, waiting for him is a problem. Newcastle still has to play five times between August 18 and September 2, and squad depth will be paramount.

Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa, who captained Ligue 1-winning Montpellier, was also a target earlier in the year, but AC Milan now seems to be his most fervent pursuer. Meanwhile, Australian teenager Curtis Good is on the verge of signing a deal, and 20-year-old James Tavernier has also played extensively in the heart of defense during the preseason. 

The center back position was a serious weakness during stretches of last season, and has yet to be appreciably strengthened. Steven Taylor silenced plenty of critics (myself included) last fall, but he has still made just 29 total appearances the last two seasons. Lose Taylor to injury once more, and Newcastle again must rely on exceedingly average Mike Williamson and a bunch of kids and fullbacks. And what if previously indestructible Fabricio Coloccini suffers a long-term injury of his own? 

Plus, any desire to play two attacking fullbacks requires central defenders quick enough to slow a counterattack. From a style and depth point of view, this has to be priority number one.

Fullback: When José Enrique infamously fled to Anfield last summer, the situation on the flanks looked dire. His eventual replacement, Davide Santon, now has one fullback position locked down. The position opposite Santon is still a question, though perhaps not for much longer.

While the drama over Mathieu Debuchy has dragged on longer than most Newcastle supporters could tolerate, it seems he will eventually be headed to Tyneside. Signing Debuchy will have a chain reaction throughout the lineup: his style makes it essential to shore up the center back spot, but it also allows Newcastle to use his crossing skills in a 4-4-2 formation, if desired. Which brings us to...

Striker/wing forward: In recent weeks, the forward position has gotten tons of attention, spurred largely by rumors of Andy Carroll's return. Whether Carroll is the right fit at a price Liverpool would accept is a continued point of contention. Shaky suggestions around Marseille's Loïc Rémy have been quickly put to rest, at least for the time being.

Among all of Newcastle's needs, the situation up front has the most variables. How will Alan Pardew primarily line the team up in the fall? What roles does he envision for the likes of Hatem Ben Arfa, Yohan Cabaye, and Jonás Gutiérrez? Because of Ben Arfa's extended summer absence, the preseason has not been especially illuminating.

But given that the club appears to be heading into the fall with a pair of superb strikers in Papiss Cissé and Demba Ba, Newcastle can settle for less here. Another forward will be important, but the apparent desire to splurge looks odd. With a limited budget, if the choice is between bringing in a less-proven forward prospect, or someone pricey like Carroll or Rémy and missing out on another target, I'd take the first option every time. 

In that regard, an interesting name to consider would be Miralem Sulejmani of Ajax. On Newcastle's radar last summer, he's now entering the final year of his contract and can operate on either the left or right wing. The contract situation would depress his value, and at 23, a move to the Premier League's bright lights may be tempting. If anything ends up developing on that front, you heard it here first.

Remy And The Rest Of The Rumors

The latest striker to surface on the Newcastle rumor mill is Marseille's Loic Remy, with French newspaper Le 10 Sport reporting United's interest over the weekend.

The Evening Chronicle has followed up on that report with stories the past two days indicating that Newcastle's interest in the 25-year-old Frenchman is genuine. The Northern Echo, meanwhile, countered today by reporting that, while Newcastle made an "initial inquiry," there's been no further movement and there isn't likely to be.

It's worth noting that neither L'Equipe nor RMC Sport, two of the most reliable French media outlets, have yet to publish anything about Newcastle and Remy.

The Chronicle also has reported that Remy is entering the final year of his contract, which could force Marseille to sell for a lower price (although still in the £15 million range). As far as we can tell, the striker signed a five-year contract when he joined Marseille from Nice in summer 2010. That said, Marseille is reported to be experiencing financial problems, which could mean it's looking to cash in on one of its more attractive assets.

Remy would seem to be a pretty good fit in Newcastle's current forward line, given his ability to play as a wing forward or a central striker. Of course, that's assuming Alan Pardew opts to use the 4-3-3/4-2-3-1 formation he unveiled in the second half of last season. How might Remy fare in a more traditional 4-4-2 alongside either Demba Ba or Papiss Cisse? That's generally not as easy to predict.

And then there's the big question mark about Remy. His 2010 transfer to Marseille was delayed when club doctors found a heart problem. The move went through anyway after he was cleared to play, and Remy has flourished at Marseille nonetheless. But the issue is still unsettling, particularly when thinking about the sort of fee it would take to land him.

In other transfer news, the Telegraph says Newcastle is still confident of landing Andy Carroll. If that's the case, then Remy would certainly be a no-go.

And there also seems to be disagreement between various media outlets on Newcastle's pursuit of right back Mathieu Debuchy. The Echo and Sky Sports have both reported United may explore options in light of Lille's demands; the Chronicle and The Journal both insist that Lille's purchase of Djibril Sidibe will hasten Debuchy's departure.

As always, stay tuned ...

Carroll And The New Style Of Newcastle

Talk of Andy Carroll's potential return to Tyneside has unsettled a segment of Newcastle United fans.

They fear that the big Geordie striker wouldn't fit into Newcastle's new style of play, that the team would be tempted to launch long ball after long ball toward Carroll's powerful forehead.

But how different was last season's Newcastle from the 2010-11 edition? The truth might surprise you.

Newcastle attempted 14,638 passes in Premier League play last season, which was up 461 from 2010-11 (about 12.1 more per game). United completed roughly 11.6 more passes per game than the previous season as well and its pass completion percentage went up 0.6 percent, from 76.1 to 76.7.

Newcastle also attempted fewer crosses - 293 for the season, about 7.7 fewer per game - and saw its crossing accuracy drop from 24.2 percent to 23.3. That makes sense in light of Carroll's departure and the absence of a consistent target forward.

Here's the kicker, though. Newcastle's possession percentage actually dropped, from just more than 50 percent to 47.8. That put United 11th in the league in possession - just behind Wolves and Wigan - while Newcastle's total passes ranked 14th. Newcastle also attempted marginally more long balls last season than in 2010-11.

So this isn't exactly Barcelona.

That's not to say that Newcastle didn't expand its play last season. Players like Hatem Ben Arfa and Yohan Cabaye added a different dimension to the team when in possession.

But Alan Pardew still likes to utilize a healthy dose of direct play in United's style. And it's worth noting that there was plenty of that in Newcastle's performance of the season, the 3-0 drubbing of Manchester United at St. James' Park. Possession also had virtually no effect on Newcastle's record last season: United won seven, lost four and drew three when winning or splitting the possession battle and won 12, lost seven and drew five when losing it.

So, yes, Pardew would need to do some tweaking to fit in Carroll. But let's debunk the myth that a major style overhaul would be required.

Could Carroll Out-Shola Shola?

Among the three of us authoring this blog, in general Tom is the scout, Matt is the strategist and I’m the statistician. So it’s not surprising that Tom is excited by the possible return of Andy Carroll and his unique skills to Newcastle United, while Matt is uncertain about how Carroll would fit into the overall scheme of Alan Pardew's revamped squad. As for me, I’m firmly in the middle, because there may be no player in all of soccer with a more mixed statistical profile than Andy Carroll. 

Let’s start with the bad. At Liverpool, as a pure finisher – as a shooter and chance converter, the spotlight skills of a No. 9 – Carroll has simply been the worst striker in the Premier League. Last season, in a league where all players from back to front converted about 13 percent of their scoring chances, Carroll converted an unheard-of 5 percent. He’s never been a sharpshooter, hitting target at the league average of 43 percent while at Newcastle, and slumping below average to 35 percent shot accuracy at Liverpool. It’s true he’s been on a club that’s been dysfunctional on attack, with Liverpool converting only 9 percent of its chances in total last season. But if you take away Carroll’s performance, the rest of Liverpool’s offense looks almost OK, though Luis Suarez and his 10 percent conversion rate hasn't been helping. (Steven Gerrard, meanwhile, converted at an elite-level 24 percent rate when he was able to get onto the pitch, and the now-departed Maxi Rodriguez also hit on just under a quarter of his chances from the wing.)

Carroll is a notoriously careless passer to boot, which is likely the biggest reason Brendan Rodgers can’t stand the thought of him in the Arsenal-on-crack offensive scheme being imported to Liverpool from Swansea City. On a club that completed 81 percent of its passes last season, Carroll completed only 64 percent. That weakness would be magnified greatly if Carroll were to remain part of Liverpool's squad this coming season. Liverpool passed the ball 5.2 times a minute last season, while Swansea under Rodgers passed 5.8 times a minute and a hyperactive 10.25 times per minute of possession, leading the league. No wonder Rodgers isn’t inclined to give Carroll so much as a trial. 

But in looking at more obscure statistics that are nonetheless strongly associated with Premier League success, there's plenty of evidence suggesting elite-level skills Carroll has brought to the pitch, even at Liverpool. His ability to win duels, especially in the air, is electrifying. Only a handful of Premier League players came up with better than Carroll’s 64 percent of aerial 50-50s and 59 percent of ground 50-50s last season; most were defenders. Carroll is also a solid chance creator in open play, ranking third on his club last season behind Suarez and Dirk Kuyt with a created-chance rate of one every 52 minutes. Co-blogger Matt believes this is partly a function of Carroll’s aerial skill and his ability to redirect with the head, though his occasionally surprising deftness with crosses indicates he’s not a mere pogo stick, either. And Carroll is an adept dribbler, going past defenders successfully nearly two-thirds of the time.

What’s especially interesting about Carroll’s skills is how closely they dovetail with Newcastle’s areas of need. In our previously blogged formula of 11 statistics that truly matter in the Premier League, Newcastle’s worst performances last season were in ground duels (17th in the league), chances created (14th), and minutes in possession (11th), which is highly correlated with successful dribbles (10th). Carroll’s ground-duel winning percentage at Liverpool would’ve led the regulars on Newcastle’s squad last season. He created 11 more chances in open play last season than Newcastle’s leading chance-creator, Yohan Cabaye – and Carroll played only 57 percent of the minutes on a club with fewer threats on attack. The only regular Newcastle player who was a more successful dribbler last season than Carroll was Fabricio Coloccini, one of the more foot-sure players in the world.

So, can Newcastle use Andy Carroll? You bet - if he wants to come back not as No. 9 but as Shola with long hair. Don’t get me wrong: I love Shola Ameobi. The shot at right has been my laptop screensaver for two years. But on a club desperate for grit and European-quality depth, in a high-profile impact and support role, Carroll could well out-beast the beast that is Shola.

But – and here, for me, is the catch – Carroll isn’t worth anything close to Liverpool’s absurd valuation, to Newcastle or anyone else. Right or wrong, the classic No. 9 skill-set of sharpshooting and chance conversion is what drives fees and wages skyward in the Premier League. It’s a joke, and that's putting it mildly, to place a £20 million price tag on a striker whose statistical line resembles that of a roaming center back. It was just as big a joke to pay £35 million for a striker who, despite his physical presence and prowess, has never been close to world-class as a finisher. Liverpool made that mistake. It’s imperative that Newcastle make them suffer fully for it. To my statistical eye, a fair current valuation on Andy Carroll is in the neighborhood of £8 million. If someone else is willing to go much higher than that, Newcastle needs to let them, especially given that Liverpool’s alternative is to have Carroll pull up £80,000 a week of bench behind Brendan Rodgers.

In short, it has come to this: The return home of this prodigal son would have more than sentimental value to Newcastle United. But let’s hope Mike Ashley is still too cheap to spend any more than a minor fraction of the money he got for Andy Carroll on Andy Carroll.

Carroll Return Wouldn't Fit Newcastle

In terms of sheer brazenness, nothing could have topped Newcastle’s offer to take Andy Carroll back from Liverpool in a loan deal. Many supporters, my co-blogger Tom included, still have a soft spot for Carroll, rising from the youth team to lift the club back into the Premier League. It was great to see a homegrown player, in the truest sense of the word, develop into one of the Premier League’s most feared strikers in the fall of 2010.

But much has changed on Tyneside in 18 months. Carroll’s key collaborators in Chris Hughton's Newcastle, Kevin Nolan and Joey Barton, are now sporting the colors of two London clubs. Fitting Carroll into the current squad, even as an alternative option, seems to present major tactical issues.

Let’s first take a look at the 4-4-2, which Pardew used successfully to batter Manchester United into submission in January. A Carroll-Demba Ba partnership would be similar in style to Ba’s link with Shola Ameobi that night. As much as Ba has pined for a central role, he is probably better using his movement and skill as a second striker. Enter Carroll, the thunder to Ba’s lightning.

There are two problems with this approach. The goal Ba scored against Man U is not one you’d expect to see every week, coming straight from a goal kick. Crosses from the flanks, the more conventional strategy in the 4-4-2, are not the strong suit of either Jonás Gutiérrez or Hatem Ben Arfa, the expected winger pair in this formation. (Should Newcastle work out a deal for Mathieu Debuchy, this equation would change considerably.)

The other big problem is leaving Newcastle’s best attacking player, Papiss Cissé, out in the cold. Pardew has used the 4-4-2 against stronger clubs like Man U and Chelsea, exactly the teams you’d want Cissé to contribute against. Cissé is much more effective leading the line, meaning that he and Carroll would work in roughly the same space on the field. It is difficult to see how the two could coexist comfortably as a striker pair.

Of course, we on the blog were most impressed with Newcastle’s attack after Pardew unleashed the 4-3-3, a setup we had advocated for quite some time. As a 4-3-3 striker, Carroll looks hopelessly miscast. Ba bristled at moving out wide last season, and Cissé is even less suited to that role. Would Pardew risk marginalizing Cissé and Ba to accommodate Carroll?

Carroll’s movement was especially poor at Liverpool last year, which would create its own set of problems in the 4-3-3. The formation works best when the front three move around laterally, dragging confused defenders with them. That’s why so many chances late in the year came when Ben Arfa, nominally a right winger, surged down the left. Based on his Liverpool form, Carroll’s lack of mobility would grind the dynamic front three to a halt.

From a sentimental point of view, bringing back Carroll would make a lot of sense. But tactically, instituting him into the team would be quite an assignment for the coaching staff. With character issues always a question for Carroll as well, a return for the big Geordie may not be worth whatever Newcastle would have to pay.

Carroll Bid Shakes Up Summer

There was nothing new doing on the transfer front at Newcastle United until Sunday.

Deals for Matheiu Debuchy and Douglas appeared to be slowly progressing. There didn't seem to be any progress with Vurnon Anita, despite his apparent desire to move to England.

And then came the news that may well define Newcastle's summer: The club had made an offer to bring Andy Carroll back home on a loan deal with a view to a permanent transfer.

Sky Sports broke the news, only minutes after publishing a report that said Carroll wasn't interested in leaving Liverpool on a permanent basis.

That might have been the case when he was being linked to AC Milan and West Ham. The chance to return to Newcastle might change Carroll's mind, though. This has always seemed like an obvious move to happen at some point down the road; the fact that it could happen 18 months after Carroll's arrival at Liverpool speaks to his struggles on Merseyside.

As poor as Carroll has been in red, though, he's still dominant in the air at both ends of the field and offers an element that's missing on Newcastle's current roster. Alan Pardew spoke after the season about the need to improve United's production on set pieces. Well, adding a 6-foot-3 battering ram of a striker would surely help.

It's true that Newcastle's team has dramatically changed from the one Carroll starred for at the start of the 2010-11 season. But remember, before his nightmarish time at Liverpool, Carroll had made great strides in his hold-up play and with the ball at his feet. And Carroll wouldn't necessarily need to be the total focal point of the attack like he was previously.

Carroll's return would lead to speculation over Demba Ba's future. Keep in mind, though, that Ba will only have one more year left on his current deal after this season. He'll be 29 when that contract expires and we all know about his troublesome knee - not to mention his legions of agents who appear hell-bent on offering him to clubs across the world. And who knows whether Ba's deal has the same release clause next summer. Let's also not forget that Newcastle could use some striker depth with what promises to be a grueling season ahead.

Carroll has always looked like a lost boy at Liverpool. Some players need to be comfortable to perform and he looks like one of them. I'm of the opinion that a return home would lead to a return to form.

Regardless of how this shakes out, one thing is for certain: This summer just got a whole lot more interesting.

Ashley In! NUFC Owner's Remarkable Turnaround

A non-story in yesterday's Kuwait Times suggested that Al-Arabi SC chairman Jamal Al-Kazemi was lining up a Newcastle takeover. Random rumors like this are always floating around, but what made the story interesting was fans' reaction to the slim chance of new ownership. Three years ago, Tyneside anxiously awaited any warm body with a healthy bankroll to take the club off Mike Ashley's hands. Now, most fans are begging the erstwhile "Fat Cockney Bastard" to remain in charge.

Given Ashley's newfound esteem among supporters, it's difficult to remember how unpopular some of his decisions were at the time. But since the club plummeted into the Championship, he has made the right move at every controversial turn.

Chris Hughton was an unheralded yes man when he took the managerial reins in 2009. A year later, he had become a martyr, replaced by another Ashley apologist, then-hated Alan Pardew. Thousands of fans vowed to turn their backs on the club before Pardew debuted on the bench. Geordie furor descended on Ashley after cashing in on local hero Andy Carroll in January 2011. The frenzy grew more intense after Newcastle missed out on Kevin Gameiro and Gervinho last summer. After watching Carroll stumble through an abysmal year at Liverpool, Gameiro and Gervinho fall out of favor at their new clubs, and Papiss Cissé electrify St. James' Park in the spring, would anyone want a mulligan on that exchange? 

True, the pre-relegation track record was poor, and the name "Sports Direct Arena" rolls off the tongue like acid. Yet in the last three years, Ashley has developed the club in a way worthy of any fan's respect.

When he bought Newcastle, it was essentially a place where aging former stars grabbed their last big paychecks. The current transfer policy seems to have been ripped directly out of Soccernomics, seeking rising stars for affordable fees and wages, and avoiding the overpriced domestic market. It's a risky formula, but it's also the only way a club like Newcastle can threaten the league's superpowers.

As much as it would be a dream to see the club aim for a Premier League title, buoyed by a virtually unlimited supply of oil-soaked cash, Ashley's method is more satisfying for Newcastle fans. Instead of fantasy football, we get to watch a team develop before our eyes. With little margin for error, scouting, recruting, and coaching players - you know, what soccer clubs used to be all about - is vital for success. New acquisitions buy into the "team ethos," as Pardew likes to say, or they find themselves out of the lineup.

The Mike Ashley-owned Newcastle United will never be the talk of the transfer window. But thanks to the formula he's now put in place, there should be plenty of people talking when it matters: on matchday. With the preseason slate starting in Germany on Friday, those days are tantalizingly close once again.

If Not De Jong, Then Who?

It's only early July, so the summer transfer market is still evolving.

That means Newcastle United fans shouldn't yet panic about the club's failure to land FC Twente striker Luuk de Jong. Twente could still drop its asking price, although Borussia Monchengladbach - with its bank account fattened by the sale of Marco Reus - may be better positioned to land De Jong anyway.

Either way, it's worth examining the alternatives should Newcastle fail De Jong, a player United has consistently been linked with for the past year. Newcastle could certainly use another striker - or at least a forward/winger hybrid of some sort - to provide depth and competition, particularly with the possibility of Demba Ba and Papiss Cisse departing for the Africa Cup of Nations in January.

So who else is out there? There are a few domestic-based options: Junior Hoilett (out of contract), Wilfried Zaha (Crystal Palace), Jordan Rhodes (Huddersfield Town) and Marvin Emnes (Middlesbrough) all come to mind. (According to today's Chronicle, Hoilett wants more money than Newcastle is willing to pay.)

But we all know that Newcastle prefers to spend its money on the Continent these days - the imminent signing of 18-year-old Coventry City midfielder Gael Bigirimana is very much a departure from the norm - so let's assume that more realistic alternatives will be based there.

We've compiled a list of options should Newcastle decide to move on from its pursuit of De Jong. We excluded players above age 27 - we realize 26 is frequently cited as the upper range of United's transfer age policy, but the club is clearly interested in Lille right back Mathieu Debuchy, who will turn 27 on July 28 - as well as anyone who's blatantly too expensive.

Players who have already moved this summer are obviously off limits, which means the likes of Bas Dost and Eren Derdiyok are excluded.

So who might Newcastle be considering? Let's take a look ...

Ligue 1
Graham Carr loves France. Unfortunately, there aren't any clearcut targets. But there are a few who might be substantially cheaper than De Jong. We didn't include Marseille's Loic Remy, because it's doubtful Newcastle would pay such a hefty transfer fee.

-Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Saint-Etienne (6-1, 23 years old, 16 goals, 7 assists in 36 Ligue 1 starts last season): The former AC Milan youth player doesn't have a great track record as a finisher, but he's still young. Unfortunately, he plays internationally for Gabon, so he could very well be at the Africa Cup of Nations as well.

-Bafetimbi Gomis, Lyon (6-0, 26, 14 goals, 2 assists in 29 Ligue 1 starts): Newcastle was linked with Gomis before Euro 2008, back when he was a rising star for Saint-Etienne. He cost €13 million when Lyon bought him in 2009, so he likely wouldn't come cheap. He was questioned about a rape earlier this summer (along with alleged former United target Yohan Benalouane).

-Yoann Gouffran, Bordeaux (5-9, 26, 14 goals, 3 assists in 31 Ligue 1 starts): Gouffran has been linked with Sunderland and Aston Villa this summer after a breakout season at Bordeaux. It was by far his most prolific season at the club, but to be fair, he had frequently played as a winger previously. He's also allergic to grass. No, seriously.

-Kevin Gameiro, PSG (5-7, 25, 11 goals, 2 assists in 27 Ligue 1 starts): Gameiro was Newcastle's first option last summer, but opted to stay in France and move to Paris Saint-Germain. He's no longer a first-choice striker there after a predictable wild spending spree and has reportedly been offered to Newcastle. But he may be too similar to Cisse.

-Yannick Sagbo, Evian (6-0, 24, 10 goals, 4 assists in 30 Ligue 1 starts): Sagbo impressed for newly promoted Evian last season. But with only one season of consistent Ligue 1 action, it'd be a pretty huge step up to the Premier League. He's also an Ivory Coast international.

Eredivisie
Newcastle is clearly exploring the Dutch market heavily this summer. And there are actually a few options after De Jong.

-Ola Toivonen, PSV (6-2, 26, 18 goals in 33 Eredivisie games): Toivonen is a fairly adaptable attacking player, with experience out wide, up front and in the hole. But while there have been rumors of Newcastle interest, the Chronicle reported he's not on United's list this summer.

-John Guidetti, Man City - on loan last season at Feyenoord (6-1, 20, 20 goals in 23 Eredivisie games): We know, technically, Guidetti should be included in the domestic options since he's owned by Manchester City. But he broke out in a big way while on loan at Feyenoord last summer, so for scouting purposes, we're putting him here. Unfortunately, Manchester City is in a position to demand whatever transfer fee it wants.

-Wilfried Bony, Vitesse Arnhem (6-0, 23, 12 goals in 28 Eredivisie games): Bony joined Vitesse Arnhem from Sparta Prague in January 2011, but really emerged this season. He doesn't have a huge track record, but looks like an ascending player. Unfortunately, since he's an Ivory Coast international, he too could be gone in January.

-Tim Matavz, PSV (6-2, 23, 14 goals in 32 Eredivisie games): Newcastle was linked with Matavz last summer before he joined PSV from FC Groningen. He handled the move to a bigger club fairly well. He's been linked with several Italian clubs.

-Miralem Sulejmani, Ajax (5-10, 23, 11 goals in 22 Eredivisie games): Sulejmani can play up front or on the wing, so logic would dictate that he'd be useful as a wing forward in a 4-3-3. He's also entering the last year of his contract, which would likely drive down Ajax's asking price from what it was last summer. However, Sulejmani is reportedly in negotiations to extend his deal.

Bundesliga
United had success in pulling Cisse from Germany in January. But it's not as easy to lure players from the Bundesliga, where they already play in front of big crowds on a weekly basis. There aren't many realistic options in Germany.

-Martin Harnik, Stuttgart (6-1, 25, 17 goals in 33 Bundesliga starts): The Austrian has hit his stride since joining Stuttgart from Werder Bremen in 2010. He just signed a long-term contract in January, so it's hard to see him coming very cheap.

-Mohammed Abdellaoue, Hannover 96 (5-11, 26, 11 goals in 27 Bundesliga starts): The Moroccan-Norwegian has a pretty decent scoring record since moving to Hannover from the Norwegian league in 2010. He looks like an out-and-out center forward.

Serie A
Sure, Newcastle landed Davide Santon from Inter Milan last summer. But Serie A can be a tricky market with large transfer fees. And Italian players seem to prefer to stay in Italy. But, out of respect to our resident Italian, Bob, we've included a couple options nonetheless.

-Mattia Destro, Siena (5-11, 21, 12 goals in 27 Serie A starts): Destro was a teammate of Santon in Inter's youth setup before being sold to Genoa in 2010. He spent last season on loan at Siena and flourished, prompting Siena to pick up an option to buy half of his registration rights. So doing a deal could be tricky, because both Genoa and Siena would need to agree to it. Plus, Destro has been heavily linked with a move to one of the top Italian clubs.

-Luc Castaignos, Inter (6-2, 19, 1 goal in 6 Serie A games): Castaignos was one of the world's most sought-after young strikers while at Feyenoord. But the Dutch youngster struggled to earn playing time after moving to Italy, and Inter are reportedly prepared to sell after just one season.

La Liga
There don't appear to be any realistic options in Spain. Malaga's Jose Salomon Rondon was linked last summer, but his price tag appears to be beyond Newcastle's budget.

The rest of the world
There's also Sporting Lisbon's Ricky van Wolfswinkel (6-1, 23, 25 goals in all competitions), who Newcastle was heavily linked with last spring. Instead, Sporting landed him for €5.4 million, which now looks like a bargain. It would probably take a bid of double that amount to land him this time around.

The list of leading scorers in the Belgian league doesn't appear to contain many options, either. Genk's Jelle Vossen (5-11, 23, 13 goals in Jupiler League last season) is the only player who would really fit into Newcastle's transfer blueprint.

We're bound to have missed someone, so feel free to comment below with any suggestions. And keep in mind that Newcastle went hard out of the gates after Gameiro last summer, only to rebuffed. Instead, United landed Ba on a free transfer before buying Cisse in January. So all hope is not lost should Newcastle lose out on De Jong.

All The Best, Leon

It's not often that a striker with a spotty scoring record leaves a club and receives nothing but well wishes on his way out.

But that's what happened to Leon Best when he departed Newcastle United for Blackburn Rovers this week, which speaks to the unique relationship between Newcastle fans and the likable Best.

Best scored 10 goals in 46 appearances for Newcastle, a record that is slightly misleading because of the English-born Irish striker's frequent injury problems. That said, Best will never be mistaken for Papiss Cisse when it comes to scoring prowess. He is - and most likely will always be - an inconsistent finisher.

However, Best has other qualities that endeared him to Newcastle fans during his two and a half years at St. James' Park. He's effective in the air, has better feet than you'd expect and had one of the better work rates among United's strikers. He also never complained about how much - or where - he was playing.

And then there was the #LeonBestIsMint craze that originated with the boys over at Shiteseats. It went into overdrive when Best scored a hat trick in his first Premier League start for Newcastle (a game I watched with a non-soccer fan friend in a bar in Springfield, Mo., prompting him to proclaim that Best was his favorite soccer player). Suddenly Best's non-existent first year at Newcastle didn't matter.

We all knew in the back of our minds, though, that if Newcastle was to continue the progression that began last season, it would need to upgrade on the fringes of its squad. And with Best only having a year left on his contract - and coming off another injury-halted season - selling him was a no-brainer - particularly when Blackburn offered more than £3 million, said to be more than double what Newcastle paid for him in 2010.

Blackburn is such a poorly run club these days, so its relegation at the end of last season felt justified. But I, along with plenty of other Newcastle fans, will be glad to see Rovers celebrating their Premiership return next spring if it means Best has scored the goals to get them there.

Time To Reconsider Xisco

There are plenty of contradictory reports floating around about Luuk de Jong. If the Dutch striker ends up playing somewhere other than Newcastle this fall, where else can the club look? Comb the top scorer lists in France, Holland, and Germany, and you find a bunch of players who don't fit the stated transfer criteria.

Meanwhile, Leon Best, a capable Premier League backup, is officially headed back to the Championship with Blackburn. The squad is thin up front, especially with persistent injury concerns about both Demba Ba and Shola Ameobi. With a heavy fall schedule a definite possibility, it is time for Newcastle to bring Xisco back into the fold.

Geordies should be quite familiar with the enigmatic Spaniard, who I recently profiled over at In Bed With Maradona. Both Xisco and the club share responsibility for four utterly forgettable seasons, three of which were spent on loan in Spain. But the current coaching staff has done wonders with players like James Perch and Ryan Taylor, and Xisco actually has some qualities that could be handy in a substitute forward this season.

A bit like de Jong, he is a tall finesse player, decent in the air and comfortable with the ball at his feet. Neither looks especially quick or strong. What de Jong has that Xisco lacks is a striker's killer instinct, the confidence to try difficult shots from any angle. But Newcastle already has two fantastic finishers in Papiss Cissé and Demba Ba. If paired with either, Xisco could well be a tidy link-up player, using his touch to set up his more clinical teammates.

The early preseason friendlies present a perfect opportunity to try Xisco out. In classic Newcastle fashion, the fixtures are yet to be announced, but apparently a pair of exhibition matches are taking place in Germany on July 13 and 16, against Chemnitzer FC and AS Monaco. Meanwhile, Hatem Ben Arfa has been given extra rest because of his stint in Euro 2012, and Cissé will likely be worked in gradually after suiting up for Senegal's summer World Cup qualifiers. With nothing to lose, why not see what Xisco has to offer?

The other important thing to remember is that Xisco is worth more to Newcastle as a player than he is on the transfer market. Despite scoring two late winners to push Deportivo La Coruna back into La Liga, it will be virtually impossible to find a club willing to buy him, or even to pay his full salary in a loan deal. The Perch treatment - being given a very limited role to start the year, and seeing if the player responds - seems ideal. And just as Perch transformed himself from irrelevant to cult hero in the space of a few months, perhaps Xisco will end up doing the same.