DONE DEALS: Emmanuel Rivière to Newcastle for €8m, Janmaat Passes Medical

It has been confirmed from very credible source Get French Football (@GFN_France on Twitter) that the deal for Monaco striker Emmanuel Riviere has been agreed and he is on his way to St James Park for a fee of €8million. He follows in the footsteps of Feyenoord full back Daryl Janmaat who has this evening passed his medical after NUFC paid £5million for his services.

Finally after waiting what seems like a lifetime Newcastle Utd are not only spending money in the summer
transfer window but they are doing it early giving the new signings a full preseason as well as a longer time getting to know there new surroundings and team mates before the live on Sky Super Sunday match against champions Man City get's under way.

Maybe some common sense and logic has finally landed at St James' after years of baffling transfer activity which has done nothing but harm the club rather than help it. 5 players 'over the line' now with Riviere to come shortly is fantastic work from the club and gives Newcastle fans something to shout about and look forward to next season. We have already seen Siem De Jong smash one in the top corner on his debut and the new season can't come quickly enough.

Well....not until a few more are through the door first!

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Micah Richards To Join Newcastle, As Debuchy Set For Arsenal Move

It's pretty much guaranteed now that Matheiu Debuchy will follow his best mate Yohan Cabaye out the NUFC door as he is all set to join Arsenal as Bacary Sagna's replacement. When the French full back signs for the North London club, the man he replaces will push out another right back from his new club Man City in the shape of forgotten man Micah Richards. If the men in charge of transfer dealings at our club have any brains about them we will move heaven and earth to make Richards our next right back for the next few years.

This merry go round of Premier League right backs seems totally logical and meets all parties involved
perfectly. Sagna gets to win the trophies he craves, Debuchy gets to the Champions League football he 'misses' and Micah Richards will gain much needed guaranteed first team football at a big Premier League club. The only thing that could throw this three pronged transfer movement into jeapordy would be the misguided logic of one Mike Ashley.

I am sure he will have his price for Debuchy and unless he demands a ridiculous amount of money he should get it, however even if he does, this still doesn't stop him being the tight fisted low life we all know he is when we go in for Richards. Man City can't possibly require a big fee seeing as he is totally surplus to requirements however if this is above what Ashley wants to pay then it can still throw a spanner in the works. You just need to look at how we got Debuchy in to see what he is capable of.

Instead of meeting Debuchy's valuation in the summer of 2012 he decided to wait until January as his price dropped to that of an acceptable amount for Ashley to part with. This of course may seem logical but seeing as we had to make do with Danny Simpson for half of the season, who eventually left for nothing, in which our Premier League campaign was a total write this strategy did not pay off beyond any stretch of the imagination. Saving a few million is not always the answer in the bigger picture.

The other and most likely issue would be Richards wages. He is on top dollar at Citeh, as you would imagine, so will have to take a significant pay cut to join us. Whether he is willing to do this in general terms you would like to think so, whether he would do it for the sake of joining our mob is another question. For me he won't get a much better offer than to make the right back spot his own at St James Park as any 'bigger' club will no doubt have a hot competition for places. Moving abroad wouldn't suit his style in my eyes either so we are a good place to go being where he is in his career right now.

Plus his desires at becoming a recognised centre back could be the key to the deal as we could offer him that, perhaps not straight away, but definitely in the future. I can't see any of the big boys a) buying him then b) playing him in the heart of their defence. Where as we will need a replacement for Colo one day sooner rather than later and he could finally reach his potential he showed not just for City but for England also. You couldn't think about taking him out of the England team, albeit at right back, a few years ago. He still has his best years ahead of him.

Debuchy out looks a certainty after the World Cup and I can't say I am remotely bothered by this whatsoever. I have never seen such a petulant player in the black and white for a long time. He has to foul people to make it look like he is doing something, he just can't help himself. The thought of winning the ball back fairly if he loses it just isn't in his brain. Foul, kick and sometime blatantly abuse are the only things in his head when it easily flips. Whether this is in the penalty area or not also seems totally void of his logic. His very short time on Tyneside won't exactly be fondly remembered for years to come.

To be honest Arsenal are welcome to him. If this is through making a profit in the process, at least doubling our money, then where do we sign? Out of three clubs i've got to say that Newcastle would be the winners out of the situation as after watching Debuchy for a year or so and Sagna over the past few years, I can't say they blow me away. Richards is younger and has the potential to improve in the future, where the other two are nearing the latter stages of their career.

Debuchy out, Richards In. Deal.

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