Big Kev "the Messiah" Keegan's summer rebuilding

Big Kev "the Messiah" Keegan's summer rebuilding frenzy

If ever there's a club that needs rebuilding, it's Newcastle - and i think we'll all be intrigued to see who Kevin Keegan can manage to acquire in his bid to bolster an ailing side. Albeit there are signs of quality within the rabbles, the likes of N'Zogbia, Martins and Taylor to name a few, but the way Keegan's second tenure at the club goes will be largely shaped around the players he can lure. Should he aspire to make his side a top-half team and then push for Europe, as anyone in his position should, then there's a few points to consider...

- How much will he have to splash?

They've always been big spenders at Newcastle, especially on the attacking front. The likes of Michael Owen (£17million), Albert Luque (£9.5million), Jean-Alain Boumsong (£8million), Jonathon Woodgate (£9million), Laurent Robert (£9.5million) and Hugo Viana (£8.5million) being amongst the sizeable purchases (and in some case blunders) over the last five years of Freddy Shepherds reign. Things were a little different under Mike Ashley for the summer of 2007/08, with Joey Barton (£5.8million) and José Enrique Sánchez (£6.5million) the heights of their acquisitions, although perhaps more a concerted effort from Big Sam to afford the flashy Newcastle of years gone by that has failed so disappointingly. In any case, is Keegan going to need a war chest to fund his rebuilding, and will he get it?

- Who can Newcastle lure?

As a club, what calibre of players can the Tyneside club actually attract? Is the dreary north-east, complimented with a club stuck in mid-table mediocrity going to put off the top players, or is the lure of playing for a well-supporting, high-paying and ambitious club going to take its toll?

- Who can Keegan lure?

As a manager, who can ol' Kev sweet-talk into playing under him? Back in 1992 he'd not long finished an extremely successful playing career, commanding a great deal of respect in the process - but 16 years on, and a number of walking outs later, has he lost the status he may once have had? Are players unconvinced by his credentials this time around, knowing a bit more about him as a man(ager)? Or will the dream of Keegan's infamously attacking, defending’s-for-lunatics, philosophy in style of play be enough to attract the higher profiled personnel?

- Where do they need to strengthen?

Maybe the whole squad is in need of improvements some way or another, but without an unlimited cash fund Keegan's going to have to optimise his spending and spend it carefully. Does that mean rectifying a long-suffering problem for Newcastle in their defence, or would that just be a waste and should he head straight to the strikers, as all respectable Newcastle fans would advise?

- Who can do that strengthening?

The right players are key to avoid failure's as Bramble, Boumsong, Luque amid many others, and hence avoid a further dismal season for the Toon. There is a wide array of choice, but keep it realistic please - you know, Berbatov, Henry, Messi and the like only.


So what do you think about the rebuilding within Newcastle this summer? Who do they drastically need? Who can they realistically get? And will the Messiah actually have the means to work his miracles?

Defence

They need a leader. I thought Rozenhal would be a superb signing, however it didn't work out. I've also been thoroughly unimpressed by Taylor, and would look for 2 centre backs, instead of finding a partner for him. Getting two new fullbacks goes without saying. Their defence is a shambles.

Mensah - someone i rate highly, he is a leader, and is of the calibre Newcastle can attract. one of the best centre backs in the French league.

Cris - another very good centre back, but hasn't featured much for Lyon this season, so could look for a way out.

Chimbonda - looks likely to leave Tottenham, and Newcastle are the favourites to sign him.

Ben Haim - good defender, did very well with Bolton, but is way down in the pecking order at Chelsea, so would probably welcome a move to Newcastle.

Rocha - another good defender, proved his worth at the top level in the Champions League for Benfica, but hasn't really settled or had a look in at Tottenham. Is likely to leave.

Meira - superb defender, internationally experience with Portugal, and one of the best centre backs in the German league. Maybe wouldn't want to leave Stuttgart, but you never know - plenty of top class players have left for inferior teams in the premiership. He could relish the challenge or the attractions it offers.

Naldo - another very good centre back currently playing for a far better team than Newcastle, but you never know.

Burdisso - Argentina international, down in the pecking order at Inter. Could leave for first team football.

Riise - possibly leaving Liverpool.

Brown - wants more money, Man Utd aren't willing to pay it. Newcastle probably would. He's impressed me this season, and can play at fullback and in the centre.

Steinsson - someone i really like. I think he is a very good fullback, and i've not been able to say this yet, but moving to Newcastle would be a step up!

Stefanovic - quite a good defender - will probably get relegated with Fulham. Cheap, and could be used as cover.

Lauren - behind Jonhson at Portsmouth - knows what it's like to pay for a big team with pressure on him. Maybe want to leave for first team football.

Hyypia - getting on a bit, and could possibly leave Liverpool at the end of the season.

Helguera - stiff competition at Valencia - could look to follow fellow Spaniards Luque and Enrique...



Midfield

The midfield for me is far more of a problem than their attack. They have some very good strikers, but simply aren't scoring because they aren't getting any chances. The midfield just isn't creating enough.

I don't rate Milner particularly highly, but he is a decent player, with the potential to be a good player. N'Zogbia i rate highly, but he needs to be played in midfield - not at left back! And Duff is past it. I wouldn't have him anywhere near the first team next team - he's been dreadful for Newcastle. Emre and Barton are good players, but never are creating enough in the centre, so Newcastle need a creative midfielder.

Tiago - He's almost certain to leave Juve. But with Atletico Madrid, and Tottenham after him, it would take some real sweet talk to persuade him to move to the Toon.

Maniche - loaned out from Atletico, could leave in the summer.

Alonso - possibly on his way out of Liverpool.

Carrick - behind Anderson, Scholes and Hargreaves at Man U. Knows he won't get a great deal of first team football - could look to leave.

Kevin Prince Boateng - apparently leaving Spurs in the summer. Young, talented and creative. Worth a punt.

Sidwell - could be leaving Chelsea on the cheap. I doubt he would solve their problems, but he's a decent player, and if he's available for a good price then it would be worth buying him anyway.

Wright-Phillips - there's always talk of him leaving Chelsea. However unlikely, it would be worth a go.

Bentley - could be tempted to a move to Newcastle because of the large fan base of the club, the so called big name, and most importantly - the MONEY.

Downing - not a bad player, and if the talk of N'Zogbia leaving in the summer is true, then they may need to look to decent left wingers like Downing, who has showed he's easily wowed by the big names...well, the bigger names than Boro anyway.

Bullard - when Fulham go down he could be available on the cheap.

Farfan - show a bit of ambition. He's a very good player, and probably wouldn't even cost THAT much. Can play as a winger and a striker. I'm often surprised by the calibre of player that leave from Holland for average premiership teams, so he's not out of the question.

Salihamidzic - not too sure how he's getting on at Juve, but i've heard it's not too great, so he could be tempted.

Nakamura - could feel a move to the premiership is needed if he's to finally get the credit he deserves by proving the doubters this side of the border wrong. They say ''the SPL is no English premiership, would he be able to cut it down here?'' It could be his chance to prove it.

Sorting out the Defence i think has to be the first priority, it still remains very much a problem for Newcastle it seems with this year being no exception. Cacapa and Rozenhal both suggested promise to accompany Taylor in the centre of Defence, yet from what i have seen Cacapa has been nothing short of woeful at times, and Rozenhal has gone out on loan i believe after failing to impress. Taylor does not seem to be hitting the same solid form he produced for the England U21's in the Summer so needs some decent competition back there. Full backs also appear to be a position needing strengthening for the Toon, with Habib Beye also looking generally a little poor to me and young Enrique not having much of an impact. Stephen Carr is probably as reliable as ever, but will never really excel.

Right Newcastle need to bring in some goal scorers and some good defenders cause what they have is shocking like for example Owen against Blackburn was shocking missed so many chances when they needed him to at least put one away..............No surprise for guessing where they need to strength the most and that is defense simply because Taylor hasn't got a decent partner again.............But for me i love seeing Newcastle struggle HAHAHA

I don't think Newcastle are badly in need of a striker at all.

Martins is a superb player, and isn't playing simply because they don't think him and Owen will work together because they are small. If they play a different style of football (under Allardyce is was his awful long ball game) and under Keegan they simply aren't playing football. Owen has been poor for Newcastle, but i'm sure he will come good if the overall football of the team improves (forget yesterday - he's usually much better than that). And there's Viduka as well, who is still a good player regardless of how this season has gone. They have 3 good strikers who have suffered from a poor style of football and confidence more than anyone.

How much money do you think Keegan will be handed in the summer Sticky?

Supposedly he will have quite alot of money to spend. I think Ashley has realised it isnt the manager fault they are playing poor its the quality of the players at the club. I read Keegan will be able to bring in 5-8 players and he wants to get rid of around about the same.

he will have as much as mike ashley wants to give him, that is somewhere between £2 and £400million. Or if you believe the media "a bottomless pit of money"

we will get whoever Keegan wants and whoever wants to come here. we need to get key players in every department.

I wrote replies to this twice and can't be bothered to write it again. He is the short version.

I'll just sit back and wait for the players to come. I'll put my trust in Keegan to get the best players he can and Ashley to put his money on the table for Keegan to spend and Wise to go out and convince the man to sign.

I think about £25-30m. But, that's just me guessing. It could be half that, or it could be £100m. Who knows?!

They can could also raise extra money by selling players, but i can't think of many they don't need that they would get a lot for.

If N'Zogbia still wants to leave at the end of the season, they could get quite a lot for him. Although he's a player they won't want to get rid of.


Assuming they get £30m to spend, i think they need to address each of the positions in defence. I think they need a completely new back 4.

I think Mensah would probably cost around £5m, and Ben Haim could be less if he leaves Chelsea. Also, if Brown doesn't sign a new contract, they could sign him on a free. And i've heard Chimbonda could be leaving for about £6m. So on that basis, they could have an entirely new back four for £15. And a pretty good one at that.

That would leave them with £15m to spend on more attacking players. Maybe they could sign Tiago and Farfan for that, but they would probably be closer to £20.

I just think they need a striker as i said a defender more important but the other three apart from maybe Martins are just not good enough like Viduka for example good player when your doing well but goes missing when your doing S**T and as for Owen though he scored i think two in two before the Blackburn game even then he was missing a few chances and just doesn't get himself involved more.............Far from me to care because it's Newcastle but it's obvious where they need strengthening

Nakamura has already said he'll stay at Celtic as long as Strachan and Lawall want him. Strachan said he's the best player he has ever worked with in his career (including the likes of Dalglish) so can't see him being too eager to sell. Apparantly Keegan is interested in getting Scott Brown. I'd take £9m for him

Obviously they wouldn't wanna sell him, so he's out of the question. I did think he would leave anyway.

I'm sure Nakamura would attract a club of a higher caliber also.

Sunday Mail reported yesterday that Keegan was planning a £6m swoop for McDonald. Load of ould tosh though I think. Why would he want to play Championship football

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/sport/football.html?in_article_id=524491&in_page_id=1779&ct=5

trust me, they dont want da prince.

If anything I'd suggest Newcastle sort out their wage bill before they splash the cash.

I read it was £62.5m and 75% of the profits they make.

We didn't make any profits. We made a loss of £33Million.

He definitely could do, but so could Owen, Martins and Emre, but they decided to join Newcastle.

Is anyone other than me going say how much they think Keegan will have to spend, and who he might/could/should spend it on?

Have to wait to see how the season pans out. Obviously they are going to spend abit of money but if they end up going down they'll spend feck all. Spend time cutting the wage bill maybe

Emre what has he done good since at Newcastle?