Toon want Thierry

[Happy Face 29]

Keegan plays down Henry rumours – but likes the Luka of Modric

 

KEVIN KEEGAN has laughed off reports linking him with Barcelona’s former Arsenal striker Thierry Henry.

 

The Newcastle United boss joked today: “It looks fantastic doesn’t it? It’s been fantastic around the training ground this week, with Thierry Henry and Deco here for lunch.

 

“But let’s get back to reality. I think the Thierry Henry story came from a talk-in I did when a 10-year-old kid asked me if there was one player I would could fetch in, who would it be?

 

“I said Thierry Henry, and from there we’re now signing him.

 

“If Mike Ashley came down to the training ground he could have lunch with me and Thierry Henry.

 

“It’s nice because people believe we can get big-name players, but we have just got to keep it real and not let people draw us down one-way streets.

 

“But there’s no point parking players here who are squad players. A few people rang me and said they had really good squad players, but we have got enough squad players here.”

 

If Keegan laughed off talk of Henry he was more serious when he talked about Dinamo Zagreb midfielder Luka Modric

 

He said: “If you had a list of the midfield players around Europe who Newcastle could possibly attract, Luka Modric would be one of them.

 

“I think he would be pretty much on any list. If you look at the midfield players who have a fantastic future, he would be one of them.

 

“But every other club in the league would also be looking at him.”

 

Meanwhile, Keegan says he has handed his list of summer targets over to Dennis Wise as Newcastle prepare to launch their latest recruitment mission.

 

The United boss has revealed that, after top level talks with owner Mike Ashley and chairman Chris Mort, a hit-list has been drawn up in an attempt to land the three or four top-class players he believes can take the club to the next level.

 

However, the actual process of attracting those men will now be left to executive director (football) Wise, vice-president (player recruitment) Tony Jimenez and technical co-ordinator Jeff Vetere.

 

Keegan said: “We had a meeting a couple of weeks ago. We really put our two lists together because they have got a massive expertise in Europe.

 

“While we on our list have got all the top ones, they are looking at the ones who maybe you can get who will be the next top ones, but are younger.

 

“When we out them together, it was quite interesting.

 

“That’s it now. If someone asks me how we are getting on with our targets, I can honestly say, ‘I don’t know’ because I am not party to that.

 

“But I will know the minute they are complete or have failed, I guess.”

[ewerk 31195]

I'm not too sure about this recruitment system, aye the scouts should identify targets and play a part in negotiations but the manager should also be heavily involved in talking to the player and be kept up to date with what is happening.

[ULSTER MAG 0]

Being a scribe for these papers must be a piece of piss, just take any player not happy at there club and ask someone at SJP what they think and bingo!! they have a world exclusive on there hands.

 

Toon dont need a recruitment team, just custis and his crew at the Sun will do the job.

[The Fish 10962]

I'm not too sure about this recruitment system, aye the scouts should identify targets and play a part in negotiations but the manager should also be heavily involved in talking to the player and be kept up to date with what is happening.

to be fair, we don't know much about the recruitment process. It may be that initial courting is done by Wise, Jimenez and Vetere but Keegan will be the closer, so to speak.

 

I doubt that they'll leave such a ace up their sleeve, we've seen how inspiring Keegan can be, it'd be lunacy to leave such inspiration out of the recruitment process entirely. But there's better things Keegan's can be doing with his time than scooting off overseas to chase a 16 yr old who might make it. Modric would be great and I think these kind of signings are the kind that Keegan would be involved in.