Howay

I hope he starts like, I know it's chucking him in at the deep end and he wont have had many training sessions (which is why I can see Pardew going with Shola) but I'd like to see how him Gouffran and Ben Afra look together (if Gouff is back fit).

Could be right there Brock, plenty of fun seasons ahead of us eh.

Be shocked if we signed him tbh, I see this more along the lines of the N'zogbia farce after losing Carroll "ah well can't say we didn't try, we just ran out of time". I really hope I'm wrong and we sign this lad as he'd be a perfect replacement for Cabaye.

I really dislike having Taylor and Williamson as a centre back pairing. Just have to hope Norwich's shite attack gives them an easy night.

Yup, the way we've played them recently has been completely gutless and that was with Cabaye in the side. We're the better team without doubt but they have had the beating of us recently regardless of form. We're really relying on Sissoko to find form playing in Cabayes position and this De Jong lad to hit the ground running.

Anyone know if there's a fee agreed for the end of the loan? or have they simply repeated the Remy mistake.

Like others have said it's clear after seeing this he's been signed to tick the French player allocation box. I'm sure he's not too fussed mind as he'll have probably doubled his wage and he's back living in his home country, and I'm sure he'll believe he's going to break into their side. It'll be interesting to see where and if they play him tbh.

Chelsea supposedly interested in him now, we were only really interested in him before Marseilles signed him once he went there he was out of our price range tbh. Hard to make a profit on a player you pay £20m for as it's hard to guarantee people will want to pay much more than that for him in future.

Wages are a big stumbling block for us as well, as with no CL footy wages are a big part of what attracts players to us but now our wages are capped we can't expect to attract these lads like Grenier who are making a name for themselves and are probably looking to be on 70k a week or higher when they move. We got extremely lucky getting a player of Cabaye's quality, like Parky says it'll be £15-£20m for the finished article and we wont pay that, it'll be at least £10m for some of these promising lads and it's doubtful we'd pay that. The supposed £50k a week ceiling we have for most players would have to be broken to have any hope of attracting some of those players.

Aye I'm surprised at this £10m, pretty sure there were reports of him wanting really high wages as well. I'd be really shocked if we got this lad for anything less than we sold Cabaye for, and I'd be even more shocked if we actually did that. True, sad that he can't at least put that off for 5 month to benefit the side. Suppose he has been waiting 3 year to sell the lad.

Aye we're in a right state up top, this has been a worrying trend for a while tbh. Losing Best and Lovenkrands, despite neither being great was a blow as we lost a lot of depth up top and never really replaced it. Now a bit of a crisis up top is emerging, this De Jong deal best actually have a set amount option agreed at the end of the loan which we fucked up not putting into the Remy loan. I suppose they'd still be better than Jozy Altidore. That's the one cheers Tom lad, I've only seen highlights of him tbh which as we all know is the perfect way to correctly gauge a player.

Good to hear, the other lad is there again as well isn't he? the midfielder who was there with Dummett, forgot his name. Hope some of these lads can break through into our first team.

Aye I was meaning them two as in Quinn and the lad you mentioned. I'm just still shocked we've let our striker numbers dwindle to this pathetically low amount, as we used to at least have someone in the reserves like a Chopra behind at least 3 seniors but now it seems like we only have that Adam Campbell (is he out on loan again?) and these two young lads behind Cisse who seems to be off and Shola with very little time on his contract.

Ah cheers for making that a bit clearer, seems to be a law that these French chairmen must be mental. £10m would be a steal for a lad like Grenier tbh, especially given his age. Bringing in someone like that would definitely soften the Cabaye blow but unfortunately it seems we've ridiculously agreed to sell in the closing days of a window again, when we should have really just agreed to sell him to PSG in the summer therefore Cabaye was happy he got his move and still had incentive to play with the World cup this summer.

Ah well maybe Beardsley could lace up his boots and get on the bus.

Will Grenier not be a bit pricey for our lot? I mean he's highly rated, at a big side and performing well, so unless he's got some release clause I'd be shocked if Ashley would part with anything over 8m to get him. The Cabella thing is confusing to me as well, so we've supposedly agreed to signing him in principle according to some reports yet we haven't agreed any fee? meanwhile their mentally unstable chairman has said he expects Bale money for him and their manager has said he'll probably leave for someone like Spurs or Chelsea in 6 month.

Maybe De Jong could sit on the bench if he's registered in time? I know he wont have even had a chance to meet the team by that point really but we're that threadbare up front.

There's that 16 year old kid that got a hat-trick against the mackems for the U-18 recently in all, so we're fully stocked between them two.

Honestly if this bloke wasn't involved in football I can't help but imagine him being a lot like Fungi off that benefits street programme. "It's only my first can" "it's 9 in the morning." While he's stumbling round his slum like surroundings.

It still astounds me they were trying to hire a football coach just to drive him around. Why not just hire a bloke that can drive in the first place? As if Joe Kinnear is the best out there so it's worth the hassle of arranging his transport everywhere because he can't be arsed learning to drive.

Aye little Vern was clearly brought in with them thinking Cabaye was off, bet big Mike was gutted he didn't receive a big enough fee at the time. So since this lot count the players contract in with the transfer fee as well as new contracts being subtracted from transfer funds (as with Tiote and Kruls contracts coming from the Andy Carroll fund for Debenham stocks), will the savings we make from Cabaye's contract be added to our funds? I highly doubt it.

Aye and it seemed clear he'd end the season in double figures if he'd stayed, double figure tally in goals as well as being the main hub of the side.

This is where all the logic Ashley and his cronies have with transfers according to his defenders completely falls apart. If this is a loan we're putting ourselves in a complete horrific position in the summer, as we will have no strikers so it will be clear as day to everyone we're absolutely desperate for one as well as having cash from the Cabaye sale. So then we're in the catch 22 of Mike the genius 'refusing to be held to ransom' after putting his club in a position that seems to maximize that ransom taking place.

Love that CT brought up Nolan leaving as if that is in any way the same. Cabaye is a top shelf player, the only one we've really had in years (not counting goalies), we won't be replacing this lad or anywhere near in terms of quality. As HF's stat showed we play far different football when Cabaye is out the team, tbh I think we all knew that before that statistic. Someone brought up the fact he's had 2 assists this season but that isn't the whole picture is it? He's the heart beat of our side and everything goes though him like Modric was for spurs, he didn't get tonnes of assists either but often the pass that comes one or 2 passes before the assist is the incisive one and that is what we have lost. This is shite for the fans, Ashley having another £20m or so (going off BBC info) means precisely nothing for us besides the hope that this parasite might fuck off from our club sooner. We've lost a very enjoyable player to watch and the 2nd half I this season will very possibly be poor hoofball in an awkward 4-4-2.

Top class player, we could never hang onto him with our structure and low level of ambition. It's going to hurt the side massively as he's a big part of the better football we play. Would settle a bit better if I thought they would re invest, but like toon don said I can also see the "won't be held to ransom" line coming out again. I have zero faith in our transfer system now with Kinnear in a position of actual power (I initially hoped it was simply a title) which impacts the was Carr and Pardew carry out the dealings. Sad to lose a player like this as he made watching games enjoyable which is what this is all about for us at the end of the day. Won't see one like him at this club for a long time.