We could very well be seeing Newcastle’s Yohan Cabaye in North London sooner rather than later.
As we all know, Allan Pardew in part blames Arsenal and Wenger for their 4-0 thumping by Manchester City on Monday as Wenger’s ‘derisory’ £10 million bid turned Cabaye’s head enough that he was withdrawn from Newcastle’s squad ahead of the match.
Update
Now, though, it seems as if Cabaye is almost desperate to jump ship, after Newcastle’s 16th place struggle last season.
It appears Arsenal turned Cabaye’s head even more so than we may have thought as very reliable Newcastle journalist, Lee Ryder, posted this morning, via twitter, that Cabaye refused to play in today’s match versus West Ham - which ended goalless.
Though Pardew very much wants to keep arguably his best player, he told Sky Sports today that
"The Cabaye situation needs to resolve itself one way or the other because if we lose him we need to replace him."
"We need to get ourselves in a position where if he stays, great, and if he doesn't stay we need to get someone equally as good. It's difficult at the moment. We have big clubs filling our players with disharmony.
If it is a situation where he leaves the football club, we have got to be stronger. That's my aim when the window shuts."
Arsenal are very much the front-runners to sign Cabaye, as P$G have pulled out of the race to sign him, the only stumbling block is Newcastle’s £25 million valuation of him.
Would Cabaye fit in?
My answer, YES.
Though not the steel and backline cover that we need, he would certainly add a bite to our midfield. He has quite the attacking prowess, while being very good defensively.
With an average of two chances created per game (higher than Wilshere, Ramsey and Arteta) in addition to a penchant for shooting from distance, he would add a new dimension to our midfield.
Finally, Wenger has a pretty solid pedigree when it comes to making good French players great.
Here is a statistical analysis of Cabaye if you’re still not sold.
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