‘Mark my words….Things are about to kick off at St James Park’ | OneFootball

As the ‘Botman saga turns into overdrive’, lets hope (with the reports coming out of Germany on Monday) that we Toon fans “Ain’t seen nothing yet”.

Newcastle United are reported to be lining up a club record bid for our old Champions League opponents Bayer Leverkusen’s outstanding Moussa Diaby.

If this comes off, it will be our marquee signing of the summer for sure.

This young lad is sheer class and is already a full French international. I’ll let the statisticians do the mathematics but Diaby’s credentials are amongst the very, very best.

The information I have read is that he has been a player on Dan Ashworth’s radar for a considerable amount of time and a lot of groundwork is reported to have already gone into a deal that would bring Moussa Diaby to Tyneside in a transfer in the region of £60 Million.

Elsewhere, I expect Hugo Ekitike to take his medical and sign for Newcastle this week, with seemingly his other main suitors Borrusia Dortmund looking at alternatives.

We are all weary of the Sven Botman ‘is he, isn’t he’ conundrum, but the more I look into it, the less I attach any blame to Botman himself. There are wily agents at work and Lille haven’t behaved like paragons of virtue either (I still reckon they’re miffed that we stole Yohan Cabaye for a song back in 2011). Milan who are one of the truly great clubs, and their Technical Director Paolo Maldini, would love to take Botman. Unfortunately, they are somewhat strapped financially when it comes to competing with the Toon and I still believe (call it hope if you want) that Sven Botman could be paraded at St James Park shortly.

We are now into the second week of the transfer window and you can bet the PIF’s bottom dollar that things are about to hot up as Newcastle United spring into action, in what has been an average summer season (weather-wise!) all round so far.

Mark my words….Things are about to kick off at St James Park.

John Allen from North Shields passed away in hospital after complications following a routine operation. An unassuming and quiet, but exceptionally good-willed lad, John will be greatly missed by his loving family and his mates in Shields and Whitley Bay. John’s funeral will be held at Tynemouth Crem at 9am on Tuesday 28th June.)