TOP DUO RIVAL TOON ROBERT BID by Graeme Bailey

EXCLUSIVE BAYERN MUNICH and Valencia have entered the bidding for top Newcastle United target Laurent Robert, as negotiations for the Paris Saint Germain star's signature reach a critical stage. Although The Magpies have been locked in talks with PSG, and mounted a renewed bid in excess of £10 million this week, the interest from Germany and Spain means that a report in one English newspaper claiming he had signed for United is extremely premature.

"Discussions with clubs are ongoing and Newcastle are one of them," one of Robert's representatives told planetfootball.com.

"The others are Bayern Munich and Valencia."

The 26-year-old is believed to prefer a move to England, but Newcastle's appeal will only be enhanced if they can gain access to the Uefa Cup, via the Intertoto competition.

A 3-2 win against 1860 Munich pointed Bobby Robson's charges in the right direction, but persuading the former Montpellier man to move to the North East may be difficult, particularly now that European champions Bayern and Uefa Cup hopefuls Valencia are in the frame.

PSG want Atletico Madrid's Hugo Leal to help fill the void left by Robert, and they seem to be determined to get the deals done before the new French season kicks off this weekend, with Lille providing the opposition for the capital club.

-- Anonymous, July 26, 2001

Answers

A Plague on both their houses!

-- Anonymous, July 26, 2001

Ronnie Gill today states "Reports that United are about to sign French striker Laurent Robert from PSG are not correct".

-- Anonymous, July 26, 2001

I bet that line disappears quickly if he does sign, then they could run a poll asking "who do you blame for us getting our stories wrong again A) Bobby Robson B) Freddie Shepherd C) the fans"

-- Anonymous, July 26, 2001

So why is it nobody else in the world is interested in a player until Newcastle show serious interest? If I were a paranoid type, I'd swear they all do it on purpose. But I'm not. Stop looking at me! ;-)

-- Anonymous, July 26, 2001

IC Newcastle are now running a story qouting his agent.

seems as though he will decide on Friday...or make that after the weekend..or next week sometime

awaiting answers from Freddie and co about aspects of the contract

ie how much dosh will he get

-- Anonymous, July 26, 2001

£25k pw for 4 years (ie. £5mm) is the common spin Pete.

-- Anonymous, July 26, 2001

How do they come to 25,000k? Incidentally thats 5k short of Tino's old weekly allowance of 30k. Do they rate him as less of a player, how do they calculate a players wages?

-- Anonymous, July 27, 2001

I still don't want him so hope Valencia get him instead....

-- Anonymous, July 27, 2001

Why not Gav?

-- Anonymous, July 27, 2001

..... he asks for £30k, we offer £20k. After 3 weeks of naggling they agree on £25k. It what makes the world go around!

-- Anonymous, July 27, 2001

I thought that was caused by the remnants of the creation of the galaxy, when matter collapsed upon itself to form the planets?

Ignore me...I'm in an odd mood

-- Anonymous, July 27, 2001

Swift he's french......i'm very cynical about french players at the moment, I think he'll be another turncoat mercenary and i'm just not interested in wasting 10mill+wages on him...

-- Anonymous, July 27, 2001

But Gav, if he turns out to be another Ginola, and he's playing for another team, that would be really annoying after we were so close to signing him

-- Anonymous, July 27, 2001

what could be more annoying is him playing like a legend until Christmas and then after Houllier tells the press he likes him, him saying he's always been a Liverpool fan. Or a quote in the press saying how he's missing Paris and regularly flies back to eat Croissants.

-- Anonymous, July 27, 2001

I can't vouch for Robert's character, but he's got all the goods as a player. And he's only 27 so he's coming into his prime. He is incredibly fast, and tends to push the ball past defenders and run on to it, rather than dribble around them like Ginola. He also has a good strike rate (15 in 30 league games last season) for a left winger. He is also great at taking free kicks, which accounts for about 1/3 of his goals.

Today's L'Equipe has a large article about the transfer. According to them, if the transfer fails to go through it will be the choice of the Newcastle directors. Apparently PSG have accepted the offer, and they've already signed his replacement, Hugo Leal from Athletico Madrid. Everyone was at a meeting on Tuesday in Paris .(Robert, his agent, Shepherd). It goes on to say that the response from Newcastle was expected last thing last night, or this morning.

There is no mention of an offer from Valencia. They say he either goes to Newcastle or stays at PSG. They want it sorted before the French season starts this Saturday.

-- Anonymous, July 27, 2001

Hey matey, you got your fingers crossed for Troyes to beat Wolfburg? ;)) if we get through I might pop down and see ya....

-- Anonymous, July 27, 2001

Thank for the info Kiwi. Sounds like a good signing!

-- Anonymous, July 27, 2001

It would be great to see the Toon in Troyes, but I think the away game against Wolfsburg will be fairly difficult. The 2nd half of the first leg was all German. But if they do win, there might be a few people keen to visit and try some of the local product.

-- Anonymous, July 27, 2001

We still haven't qualified yet but it'd be great fun to come down there....

What's the curry houses like? ;)

-- Anonymous, July 27, 2001

There's one curry house here, and it's not up to your London standards. However, the champagne houses aren't too bad!

-- Anonymous, July 27, 2001

FROM TEAMTWADDLE "Robert slams United move talk Laurent Robert has slammed talk of a £10million move to United and has confirmed on his website that he will start the season with Paris. Robert's agent Pape Diouf earlier claimed that the ball was in United's court after an agreement was reached with Paris St Germain for the player's transfer. "We made some certain contractual demands and we are now waiting for a reply from Newcastle," said Diouf. "We do not expect the situation to drag on much longer. If we do not have a clear reply by Friday, then Robert will begin the season with PSG." But speaking on his own website Robert said: "If I had signed a deal, I would have announced it on my site. "It has been only rumours and as far as I'm concerned and I know nothing of it. If Newcastle want something, they should call my agent. It really is nonsense. "I will be starting the season with PSG with whom I trained today and am looking forward to the match against Lille." The news will come as a massive blow to Freddy Shepherd and Bobby Robson's team building plans. And both are understood to be furious with the actions of the player's agent who seems to have been using The Magpies' interest to hike up the price of his player. Both Valencia and Bayern Munich are also understood to be interested, but it looks as though Robert will be staying in his homeland."

-- Anonymous, July 27, 2001

Rearrange the following into a well known phrase or saying :-

Tosser!

-- Anonymous, July 27, 2001

Tosser!

Oh - he's going to sign now is he? Ah - well - what I meant your majesty - er, what I meant your Majesty - it was one of Wilde's.

(Actually it's Rivaldo who's the tosser) :-)

-- Anonymous, July 29, 2001