Newcastle's Pre-Season Transfers In Summary

The summer transfer has not been as fascinating and anticipated as every Toon fan would like.

However there is a lot of activity behind the scenes, with the management directors comprising of Dennis Wise, Tony Jimenez and Jeff Vetere working extremely hard to get new blood in the squad.

So far, the new ones in are, as expected, quality in its finest.

Let's re-cap the ins and outs this summer.

Ins

Jonas Gutierrez

The former Real Mallorca winger bought out of his contract in order to join the Magpies. A versatile winger who can play left or right, Gutirrez is an Argentine international who has 3 caps to his profile and with his agility he will provide the sting from the wings.



Danny Guthrie

The former Liverpool youth player spent a year long loan at Bolton Wanderers last season before signing for the Magpies this summer. The central midfielder was compared to the likes of Rob Lee by manager Kevin Keegan will be the balance figure of the Magpies midfield this season.








Sabestien Bassong

Bassong came in to Newcastle on trial from French club Metz. The 22 year old central defender impressed Kevin Keegan with his no-nonsense approach and signed for the Magpies on a 3 year deal.




Fabriccio Coloccini

The Argentine international had a long wait befor becoming a Newcastle player. The central defender became the club's record breaking transfer for a defender after his £10 million move from Deportivo La Coruna. The experience defender has been in the speculating books for quite a while and finally had the deal done last week and now bursting for action for the Magpies.


Outs

The ones that went out are expected to be fringe players from my point of view and they are as follows:-

1. Peter Ramage (free)
2. Stephen Carr (free)
3. Lamine Diatta (free)
4. James Troisi (free)
5. David Rozenhal (£2.8 million to Lazio)
6. Emre (£ 4 million to Fernebache)
7. Abdoulaye Faye (£2.25 million to Stoke City)
8. Shola Ameobi (£2.5 million to Ipswich Town)

We are still expecting 2 more players coming in, cause if you look by the numbers it is such a small squad. Hopefully there will be more new and quality players coming to Tyneside befor the window closes in Aug 31. But for now it is indeed quality in the camp and the new era of Keegan's men will start to stomp with Man Utd their first opponents in the Premier League curtain raiser.

Newcastle's Pre-Season Matches In Summary

With very few events happening during the pre-season, the Magpies will be gearing up against a good opposition today in Man Utd.

Anyway let's re-cap what have actually happen during the off pre season that has been happening on Tyneside.

Let's start off with the pre-season matches.

Newcastle went off to a bright start against a common pre-season fixture in Hartepool.
The Magpies went to triump 4-1 with a hat-trick of goals coming in from Damien Duff and a debut goal for new signing Danny Gutrie.

Next off is Doncaster Rovers.
The newly promoted Championship side showed great determination and persistent and manage to get an upset by beating the Black and Whites 1-0.
As this was only a pre-season friendly, Kevin mentioned it's a great workout for the lads.

The Mallorca tournament has always been proven a nightmare for Toon fans and Newcastle head there with 2 straight defeats, losing 1 goal to nill to both Herta Berlin (German Bundesliga) and host and tournament winners Real Mallorca.
But the good side of things is that the lads are getting more fitter than their previous pre-season preperations!

Two home games kicked in later with PSV Eindhoven and Valencia the next oppositions.

The PSV game was a gruelling encounter with the Magpies managing a 2-2 draw with the mighty Dutch club.

Goals from centre-back Steven Taylor and a home debut goal from Danny Gutrie ended the night with the Magpies showing flashes of the team back in the 90's when Alan Shearer was in the side.

Next is Valencia, with Euro 2008 golden boot winner David Villa on their side. The game got off to a big bang and the resillence of the Magpies and the fighting spirit in terms of commitment and play was simply astounding!

The Magpies won on the night 2-1 with goals coming in from Damien Duff and James Milner to cap a wonderful performance.

In all, what I've witness ...... there hadn't be a more committed and fitter team than the one Kevin Keegan assembled this time around.

The future looks bright....