Newcastle seek out Ba replacement
Friday, January 4, 2013 at 2:39 AM | by Jack Johnson 
With Newcastle’s top scorer Demba Ba edging ever closer to the door at St James’ Park market ‘exit’ the Magpies are moving swiftly to replace their Senegalese hitman. According to the Daily Mirror the number one target is Marseille forward Loic Remy.
The French international has played for an array of Ligue 1 sides, including Lyon and Lens, making 95 appearances and scoring 39 goals in the process. He has been subject to interest from a number of Premier League clubs for several seasons now, including Chelsea and Spurs, but it seems as if Alan Pardew is best placed to get his man.
Newcastle already boast an impressive array of talent from the French national side - particularly Yohan Cabaye and Hatem Ben Arfa -which helped them secure an unexpected European place last season, as well as new signing Mathieu Debuchy, recently purchased form Lille. If they can add Remy to this list it will be a smart move, with the reported £10m figure representing decent value for a 26-year-old who can play in a variety of positions across the front line.
His addition, coupled with the departure of Ba, would also allow Papiss Cisse to move back into the centre of Newcastle’s attack where he was so effective after moving to the North East a year ago. A front three of Remy, Cisse and Ben Arfa is a very attractive prospect, with three top class players actually playing in their best positions. That is of course unless Pardew still insists on sticking Cisse out on the right wing where he has been remarkably ineffectual so far this season.
Fortunately it seems as if the under pressure boss is on the same wavelength – The Mirror quote him as saying “We are hoping he (Cisse) has the second half of the year he had last year, where he was absolutely terrific for us and scoring goals for fun. That's where we need to get him."
You know what Alan, I think you might be right.
Jack Johnson
