Mar 24, 2011

Newcastle United In Talks to Sign £40m New Strike Pairing

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Pardew wants to bring Lille duo to St James’ Park.


Newcastle manager Alan Pardew is understood to have approached French club Lille about the possibility of securing both Moussa Sow and Gervinho on a deal which would see the pair spearhead a £40m-rated Toon attack next season. Sources close to Pardew say he has been monitoring the progress of both players, who are yet to be locked into long-term deals at the table-topping Ligue 1 club. Sow has been a revelation for Lille this season and is the current French top scorer with 19 goals.
His contract comes to an end in 2013, but after signing on a free transfer from Rennes, Sow’s value could see the club cash in when the window reopens in the summer. Strike partner Gervinho meanwhile offers a flexible option to Newcastle with both his ability to play upfront and on the wing an asset. The Ivory Coast star shone in the World Cup and has also contributed with 12 league goals this season.


SOURCE: Metro


Clearly Newcastle United could do with some fresh attacking options following the sale of Andy Carroll to Liverpool in January but is £40m a tad steep for this pair of Ligue strikers? Well Lille are riding high at the top of the table and looking good for their first domestic title in over 50 years and a big reason for this, as well as young starlet Eden Hazard, has been the form shown by Moussa Sow and Gervinho up front.


Lille have outscored all French sides and Sow has netted 19 league goals in his first season at the Stade Lille-Metropole and Gervinho has put in a good deal of support and is perhaps the more well known of the two, having done pretty well at the World Cup last summer with Ivory Coast.


Pardew currently has to count on the fairly limited attacking offering that he gets from the likes of Shola Ameobi, Peter Lovenkrands, Leon Best, Nile Ranger and Shefki Kuqi, none of them being the most prolific of finishers.


In relation to thsi Lille swoop, one has to wonder whether Magpies owner Mike Ashley will shell out to this extent, especially if you take into account Alan Pardew will be looking to tie down key players with lucrative contracts as he did recently when Cheik Tiote signed on the dotted line on a long term deal.


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