Faye bye
Confirmation today that Amady Faye has ended his short-but-not-particularly-sweet stay at St James' Park by joining Charlton. How we managed to recoup the £2m we paid Portsmouth 18 months ago I'll never know, but it has to merit another grudging pat on the back for Fat Fred.
Faye was sold to us as "the new Vieira" - and indeed he was, if "Vieira" meant the Juventus player all at sea during his side's defeat by Arsenal in last season's Champions' League, when the game - superbly marshalled by Cesc Fabregas - completely passed him by. For a player whose game was reputedly built on athleticism and tough tackling, Faye was more often than not lethargic and uncommitted - something which, to be fair, Pompey visitors to Newcastle message boards warned us when Souness signed him.
So, no disappointment whatsoever to see him go. Down at The Valley he'll be hooking up with fellow new signing Djimi Traore. Judging by what I've read on All Quiet In The East Stand, Charlton's pre-season preparations haven't been going particularly well - and those two signings (at a combined cost of £4m) are hardly likely to fire the fans' optimism...
In other news, Faye's old club Portsmouth have pulled off something of a coup in signing Sol Campbell on a free. Of course, quite how much of a coup it was depends on how many other teams were interested - my guess (and I won't even bother saying "no disrespect to Portsmouth") is not many. We sniffed around for a while, though, and even at 31 and past his best Campbell would have been a very useful player to have had at the club. He and Wayne Bridge are the only two defenders we seem to have been linked with all summer...
Meanwhile, Glenn Roeder has at last confirmed his interest in Feyenoord striker Dirk Kuyt (and Inter's apparently surplus-to-requirements striker Obafemi Martins). We still seem to be playing some kind of waiting game, and I'm not sure it's in our best interests. After all, if Liverpool gain a commanding lead in tonight's Champions' League qualifier against Maccabi Haifa and then firm up their interest with a formal bid, then Kuyt probably won't give us a second thought.
Faye was sold to us as "the new Vieira" - and indeed he was, if "Vieira" meant the Juventus player all at sea during his side's defeat by Arsenal in last season's Champions' League, when the game - superbly marshalled by Cesc Fabregas - completely passed him by. For a player whose game was reputedly built on athleticism and tough tackling, Faye was more often than not lethargic and uncommitted - something which, to be fair, Pompey visitors to Newcastle message boards warned us when Souness signed him.
So, no disappointment whatsoever to see him go. Down at The Valley he'll be hooking up with fellow new signing Djimi Traore. Judging by what I've read on All Quiet In The East Stand, Charlton's pre-season preparations haven't been going particularly well - and those two signings (at a combined cost of £4m) are hardly likely to fire the fans' optimism...
In other news, Faye's old club Portsmouth have pulled off something of a coup in signing Sol Campbell on a free. Of course, quite how much of a coup it was depends on how many other teams were interested - my guess (and I won't even bother saying "no disrespect to Portsmouth") is not many. We sniffed around for a while, though, and even at 31 and past his best Campbell would have been a very useful player to have had at the club. He and Wayne Bridge are the only two defenders we seem to have been linked with all summer...
Meanwhile, Glenn Roeder has at last confirmed his interest in Feyenoord striker Dirk Kuyt (and Inter's apparently surplus-to-requirements striker Obafemi Martins). We still seem to be playing some kind of waiting game, and I'm not sure it's in our best interests. After all, if Liverpool gain a commanding lead in tonight's Champions' League qualifier against Maccabi Haifa and then firm up their interest with a formal bid, then Kuyt probably won't give us a second thought.
posted by Ben at 12:56 pm
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