Yohan Cabaye has told Alan Pardew he wants to leave Newcastle United this month and, providing the right price can be agreed, the France midfielder is expected to be a Paris Saint-Germain player by the end of the week.
Although Cabaye was named in the Newcastle squad that flew to Norwich yesterday for tonight’s game at Carrow Road it will be a surprise if he features.
Mike Ashley, Newcastle’s owner, rejected a €17m bid for the playmaker over the weekend but negotiations with PSG are continuing. Pardew has made it clear that he wants any deal concluded by Thursday at the latest, leaving him time to recruit a replacement before the transfer window’s closure on Friday evening.
Much depends on how payments might be structured – and whether Manchester United make a late bid – but Ashley is hoping to secure around €24m for Cabaye. It is thought highly unlikely that, were the move to collapse, the 28-year-old, who arrived from Lille for €5.2m in 2011, would stage a repeat of his strike last August when he refused to play for Newcastle in the hope of forcing through a mooted move to Arsenal.
“I’m not confident of keeping Yohan,” Pardew admitted. Cabaye has flourished since being shifted from a deeper role to a more classic number 10 position. Replacing such an influential figure in a largely Francophone dressing room at St James’ Park will not be easy and Pardew concedes Cabaye’s departure could leave Newcastle “vulnerable” to a slide down the table from their position of eighth.
“Our team is centred around Yohan and he plays a vital role for us,” he said. “If you take him out, you leave us vulnerable. We need to bring someone in for sure. You can’t lose a player of that quality and not replace him.”
The manager’s fear must be that Ashley will not deem signing a replacement as imperative. Nonetheless Newcastle are understood to be lining up moves for two midfielders: Montpellier’s Remy Cabella and Lyon’s Clement Grenier.
Pardew is also in the market for a striker and hopes to see a loan deal completed for the Netherlands striker Luuk de Jong by Friday. Negotiations with Borussia Monchengladbach, De Jong's present club, are thought to be at an advanced stage. "We're a little closer to that," Newcastle's manager said.
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