Newcastle Linked With Top Young Central Defender Newcastle have been linked with young 22 year-old center-back Kostas Manolas of Olympiacos, and the youngster has already played six times for Greece. We were first linked with this youngster last year, and it seems that Alan Pardew is very keen on the player, and if we do get Manolos to Tyneside, it will be the first Greek player top arrive at Newcastle since Nikos Dabizas joined us in the 1998. Nikos was very popular on Tyneside and stayed at the club for six years, playing under Sir Bobby Robson most of the time. The 22-year old Manolos appears to be an outstanding young prospect, and Everton and Spurs are also said to be interested in the player – in addition to Newcastle. The 22 year-old had this to say to the Greek press on Saturday: “My wish is the wish of the president of Olympiacos. If the President wants to sell me, I will leave. If he wants to keep me, I am very happy at Olympiacos.” “I perform at my maximum level every time I go onto the pitch. Whenever I play, I want to help the team as well as I can,” There are two center-backs who could leave Newcastle in the summer – captain Fabricio Coloccini and local lad Steven Taylor – and if any one of them do leave then Newcastle will need to bring in a top young stopper. And there could be a number of new players arriving in the summer, and we expect most of them to be 26 years old or younger, so this player fits the bill nicely. Kostas started his career at Thrasyvoulos back in 2008, and in 2009 he moved to AEK, before ending up at Olympiacos in July of 2012 on a free transfer. He has played 67 times with six goals for Olympiacos, so he can score goals, and he played 85 times for AEK with six goals before moving to the Greek powerhouse. David Moyes was interested in the player two years ago when he was still at AEK and Moyes was at Everton, and he may want to take him to Manchester United this summer. And from what we saw of the Red Devils in yesterday’s 3-0 home defeat by Liverpool, they will need to buy big time this summer. This is the type of player Newcastle should be interested in, but whether we are a big enough club these days and can get the deal done is another matter. What do you think?
Posted on: Mon, 17 Mar 2014 15:30:03 +0000
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