ROBSON HAILS KLUIVERT SIGNING Wednesday 21st July 2004

Kluivert: New man at St James' Newcastle United have unveiled Patrick Kluivert as their major summer signing on a three-year deal.

Sir Bobby Robson feels The Magpies have done a great bit of business in landing the Barcelona striker and likened the buzz around the North East city to the time of Alan Shearer's arrival from Blackburn Rovers.

The United boss believes he has the best strikeforce in the country, contesting Liverpool's Rafa Benitez's claims on the subject, after handing the Dutchman the number 11 shirt vacated by Gary Speed.

"We are obviously delighted to sign Patrick on," stated Robson.

"I've known him for many years. As you know, he played for arguably the top club in Holland in Ajax. He certainly played for the top club in Catalunya, maybe Spain.

"He is a player of immense experience, of great stature and is an international player of high repute. He has played for top clubs in his career.

"He's at a very good age, just 28. We have a stream of very young, talented players but we need balance. We've just lost an experienced player in Gary Speed.

"It's not the same position but he's a player of maturity and we need to balance the youngsters. He is a high-profile, dazzling player. I think it's a great move for him at this time of his life.

"He's probably got the best years of his career ahead of him. He will be additional value with Alan Shearer, Shay Given and one or two of our more older players, Laurent Robert, of course.

"We've got a dazzling player and I wish him every success. If he reaches anything like his potential, he'll be popular here. If he does well, he'll be an icon immediately. I have explained what Newcastle is to the area, how vibrant it is as a city and, if he does well he will literally love it."

Robson feels it is money well spent on the former Barcelona centre forward.

"It's a straight three-year deal," he added. "Both clubs amicably arranged a transfer to suit both clubs.

"Patrick is a Newcastle United player and I hope that he will be a fantastic acquisition.

"We haven't paid the dazzling figures being bandied about for strikers. We've been clever and frugal in our dealings. He's not cheap, not for nothing, but we're very happy with the deal and we know he'll be great value for the club and that's what we're thinking about.

"We've got Shearer, Shola (Ameobi) and (Craig) Bellamy. I think the strikeforce is as good as anything in The Premiership, to be honest.

"You see what happened at Manchester United, adding (Alan) Smith. Look at Chelsea, we know about Arsenal. We want to be amongst the big boys and Patrick's acquisition will keep us in the top class category.

"The headache is when you don't have players to choose from. The headache has been removed as we've just got a quartet of fantastic players.

"The more players you have got, the more chance you have got in the competitions.

"I think he is one of the most significant signings for many, many years. It is very similar to the feeling within the city when the club decided to bring Shearer back home. He's similar to Alan in some ways, dissimilar in other ways, but he's a big player and a great capture."

As for future arrivals, Robson was remaining tight-lipped on the subject.

"This is our second signing," he declared. "We have young (James) Milner. You know me. When we've done some business, we'll let you know.

"The recruitment policy is still ongoing but we will let you know who they are then."

-- Anonymous, July 21, 2004

Answers

So not a loan deal then? Interesting.

-- Anonymous, July 21, 2004

Lifeboats ahoy.

Even I'm starting to get excited by all this but giving the lad a fat 3 year deal isn't the BEST motivational tool in the world is it? Maybe there are some fat goal bonuses...

-- Anonymous, July 21, 2004

Wearing the black and white:
Darn, greenspun removed the ability to use image tags, so here's the link Sporting Life photo

-- Anonymous, July 21, 2004

I'm still not convinced this is a "regular" 3 yr deal. I suspect the announcement of it as a 3 yr deal is to protect PK's sensitivities - it would be rather embarrassing for a player of his stature in the game to be seen to be moving effectively 'on approval'.

My guess is that however the deal has been structured there is some 'get out of jail' card for the Toon. At least I bloody hope there is!

-- Anonymous, July 21, 2004

SBR was actually on great form. He joshed that PK was "Good for nothing!" in a good sense of course. He was also saying some interesting things about Mourinho; about how they spent every day together for 6 years and that the signing of PK will be of great interest to him.... I've still not lost the feeling that we're going to be intimately involved with Jose at some point soon. The cpckerneys were trying to get SBr to feel depressed about the difference between us signing PK for free and RAPE signing Drogba for 24mil but the Knight was extremely bullish and predicts that PK will be seen as the signing of the Premiership this season.

-- Anonymous, July 21, 2004

PK has proven himself over several years..Drogba, whilst very good has only really done it over one season, 24 mill is a lot for him IMHO.

I think and hope sir bob will be correct in his assessment that PK will be the signing of the premiership this season

-- Anonymous, July 21, 2004

What a cracking forward line though but, if only Bellend can stay healthy...

-- Anonymous, July 21, 2004

Softie's right - SBR was looking very relaxed and in good form.

He certainly didn't look like a Manager who has been 'presented' with a player he didn't want.

-- Anonymous, July 21, 2004

Hello folks - notbeeb still down.

The way I console myself about Drogba is to remind myself that Guivarc'h was similarly top scorer in France the season before we signed him...

-- Anonymous, July 21, 2004

Put it this way, if West Ham had stayed up, Drogba was going to sign for a million. Does anyone really think that Roeder was able to spot that big a bargain? I think not.

He'll only score in the Premier League against teams stupid enough to leave a potential 1-on-1 at the back when attacking corners. Which sadly means he will score against us...

-- Anonymous, July 22, 2004

First game will get a Hell of a build up: Shearer and Kluivert v Viduka and JFH. Got 0-0 written all over it :-)

I'm looking forward to the pre-match catfight between Robert and Santini for the first home game. So long as French Bob gives us a rerun of last season's display against Spurs it will be a grand day out.

-- Anonymous, July 22, 2004

Very very happy with Kluivert. Also very happy with the Viana deal, gives him a chance to have another go with a new manager next year, gets at least some of his wages off our books, and doesn't reduce his possible transfer value by moving his contract a year closer to finishing. Good management at Newcastle??? Melchiot/Mills plus Butt would make me very happy and pretty optimistic.....

-- Anonymous, July 22, 2004

Melchiot's signed for Brum and Mills for Man City...

-- Anonymous, July 22, 2004

Good artricle on Kluivert in today's Guardian. Nice, opitimistic ending.

Striker who burnt too brightly

Kluivert's love of the high life is unlikely to be missed by Barça

Sid Lowe in Madrid Thursday July 22, 2004 The Guardian

No one laughed when, not so long ago, Patrick Kluivert was described as the "greatest No9 in the world". After all, elegant and graceful, a supplier as well as a finisher, he had scored the winner in a European Cup final at the age of 18, had become his country's all-time leading scorer and had hit more than a hundred goals in six seasons for Barcelona, the most demanding club on the planet.

And yet there were few tears in Barcelona yesterday, only relief. Though it has been coming for some time, the 28-year-old's fall from grace has been as spectacular as his cost: €10m (£6.7m) a year, the best-paid player in the world. Tears? Far from it. Having finally shaken off his predecessor's most costly legacy, Barcelona's president Joan Laporta can afford to laugh now.

After Luis Figo eloped to Real Madrid, Barça's then president Joan Gaspart was terrified of losing his other big star, Kluivert. So he increased the Dutchman's wages to €6m a year plus a guaranteed bonus of €4m to be paid every May. If Barça didn't pay the bonus, Kluivert's buy-out clause, previously set at €36m, automatically dropped to €1.8m for a month; a window of enormous opportunity. Kluivert would be a "bargain".

How times have changed. Now, Kluivert isn't even worth that. Newcastle have picked him up for free and Barça, even though he had a year to run on his contract, are delighted. Which, rather sadly, says it all.

In six years, Kluivert never won over the Camp Nou. Despite an impressive record during his first five seasons, he never scored 20 league goals and one study showed that only 13 of his goals earned Barça a victory or a draw. He didn't lead; he only scored when it no longer mattered.

And that was while he was rated; last season was worse, far worse. He scored only eight times, his absence coincided (though it was no coincidence) with Barça's best form, and the Camp Nou whistled and booed and waved white hankies at him. His very style made him even more of a target - the effortless grace, the exaggeratedly slow smoothness and the refusal to fly into tackles and shake fists gave the impression of a man cruising his way through games, uninterested.

The perception was largely unfair but Kluivert's lifestyle hardly helped. He is, wrote one Dutch journalist, "a talent with a smell" and it wasn't just the financial burden Barça wanted to offload; it was also a man, with attendant entourage, they were tired of.

A man who turned up late for training, with the club briefing the local press that he had been drunk; a man who was turned back by US Immigration from the club's pre-season tour, because he lacked the necessary visa after his conviction for a car crash in 1995 in which he killed a man. In 1997 he also faced serious sexual allegations in the Netherlands but the case was dropped.

That lifestyle has taken its toll. A little over a year ago Kluivert's long-term agent Siggi Lenz dropped him, saying he could not take any more. Two of Kluivert's team-mates pleaded with Lenz to reconsider, saying: "Don't do this to Patrick; he needs support." Lenz refused sadly, describing it as "a lost cause"; for 10 years he had been telling Kluivert the same things about his lifestyle, but nothing sunk in.

The former Barcelona coach Louis van Gaal agreed, claiming: "Patrick doesn't live a professional life off the pitch. He needs to manage his entourage better. I have told him lots of times, but . . ."

But nothing. Although Paul Foortse, a long-standing associate, handled the contract negotiations with Newcastle, these days Kluivert is mainly looked after by a former music and fashion agent. Close friends have also expressed fears about the consequences of his easy-going attitude to money. To life, in fact.

Kluivert owns one of the trendiest nightspots in Barcelona, CDLC, right on the sea front, and revels in his role as host - Barça employees once caught him there very late the night before a match.

That laid-back approach and love of the high life, and the alleged sexual escapades with various women, have inevitably also caused problems with his wife, Angela. Yet when she took part in a bikini-clad photo shoot for FHM, he was reportedly very upset. Angela proceeded to do it again.

If that hurt, so did the Camp Nou whistles, hinting at his vulnerability. "I am," he said, "a sensitive man. I want to play in a stadium that supports me; where people appreciate me, not where they don't want me."

And that's the point; there should be few fears about Kluivert joining a club with a reputation. The Dutchman is self-indulgent, sure, but he is not self-obsessed; he is more wayward boy than arrogant man. He is likeable, not loathsome. He acts cool, but he just wants to be loved.

Newcastle could be perfect. It is a big club, a second chance, providing the stimulation that Van Gaal always insisted was "vital". The temptations are not so great as in Barcelona or even London; he has a manager who will put an arm around him and fans who will support him where the Camp Nou did not. If Kluivert is fit and hungry and feels loved, he will score goals, lots of them. He may yet prove a bargain.

-- Anonymous, July 22, 2004

"His very style made him even more of a target - the effortless grace, the exaggeratedly slow smoothness and the refusal to fly into tackles and shake fists gave the impression of a man cruising his way through games, uninterested".

Remind you of anyone else, another Toon player indeed?

This style is fine if you're producing the goods regularly, however.....

The more I hear and read about PK the more I think this is a real long shot. However, it might just work - IF he can get the crowd pulling for him.

-- Anonymous, July 22, 2004

al, its a fascinating case of 'which way will he fall?' - one thing is for sure it's not a low key boring signing!

-- Anonymous, July 22, 2004

No it isn't swifty - it's definitely one that has captured the imagination. Why, it's even given me a bit of a fillip (sp?)!

-- Anonymous, July 22, 2004

PADDY SPEAKS: (from his Icons site)

The good news is that I've passed my medical and I am now a Newcastle player. It's a complicated deal, but I am free of Barcelona and have a three-year commitment.

I'm very excited to have signed for such a fantastic club as Newcastle United, and thrilled to be working with the most experienced manager in the Premier League, Sir Bobby Robson. He is a hugely respected figure and that was a draw for me.

I'm also looking forward to linking up with Alan Shearer, who is a superb striker - I'm sure we can form a great partnership. But as well as Shearer there are a lot of promising young players at the club who I can't wait to play with. I think Newcastle have a very bright future, and I want to be part of that.

I've always wanted to come to one of the biggest clubs in the Premiership, and there's no doubt that Newcastle are one of the biggest clubs in England so now I can achieve that aim. They have a stadium and facilities that are second to none and probably the best fans in England.

And that's not just what I've been told, I have experienced it myself. I remember when I played at St James Park two seasons ago with Barcelona, the crowd were amazing. They gave me a standing ovation when I left the pitch and I haven't forgotten that. I'm looking forward to playing in front of such a passionate set of fans.

I am determined to prove myself in England. I had one disappointing season in La Liga, and perhaps some people have written me off. But I'm sure I can do well in the Premiership and if I do that, then when I am retired I can look back and say I have been successful in all the biggest leagues in Europe – in Spain, Italy and England. If I do well in England I will have proved I can do well anywhere. That will be something to be proud of.

-- Anonymous, July 22, 2004

My whistle is well & truly whetted I can't wait for the season proper now.

-- Anonymous, July 22, 2004

Indeed, sounds like another Robert-type of personality. Hopefully the supporters won't turn on Kluivert as quickly as they did on Robert. If people get behind the both of them, and they can play to their potential, we have the potential to be downright frightening in attack with the addition of Shearer, Bellamy(when healthy), Dyer(on form), Jenas(on form), etc.

-- Anonymous, July 22, 2004

do you honestly believe that someone else hasn't written that for him? :-)

-- Anonymous, July 22, 2004