No Mod cons

It's back to the drawing board as far as our January transfer plans go, it seems, following the news that Modibo Maigo failed a rigorous club medical in London last week. The deal for the Sochaux striker was being viewed as pretty much done, so its breakdown is a bit of a blow.

The player has understandably been rather nettled by events, insisting on his fitness after trying to persuade our medical staff to accept a second opinion. It's probably particularly galling knowing that we have in the past taken chances on signings with dubious injury records - most notably Demba Ba, of course, who continues to impress despite our slump in form, banging in his 12th and 13th goals of the campaign against the Baggies.

We are already looking elsewhere, including - apparently - at Crystal Palace whizzkid Wilfried Zaha, who was one of Man Utd's chief tormentors when the Eagles sprang that shock defeat on the Reds at Old Trafford in the League Cup. Several things stand in the way of bringing the electrifyingly quick teenager to Tyneside, though: the mooted £10m fee, more than Jabba is likely to want to part with in a single lump sum these days; the certainty of there being other interested parties (and Palace manager Dougie Freedman's assertion that he's "better than a Newcastle"); the fact that Peter Beardsley can't seem to time his scouting trips right...