Marseille striker Loic Remy set for Newcastle move

Newcastle United are in advanced talks to sign France international striker LoÏc Rémy for £10million and hope to announce the deal at the start of the January window.

The move will also involve Rémy’s current club, Marseille, signing a Newcastle player, possibly one of their Frenchmen such as Gabriel Obertan who could be surplus to requirements at St James’ Park.

If, as expected, Remy is signed by Newcastle it will increase the speculation that Demba Ba could leave the Premier League club when the window opens on Jan 1. Ba is available for £7million, the value of the release clause in his contract.

Newcastle insist that they want Ba to stay and have been attempting to get the Senegalese striker, who has 11 league goals already this season, to agree a new contract removing the clause.

There is, however, interest in Ba from Arsenal and Chelsea, although he is not their top target, and also more recently from Queens Park Rangers’ manager Harry Redknapp.

Ba said: “People know that Arsenal need strikers, they know that a release clause is inserted in my contract, so they make speculation. It’s true that Arsenal is a very attractive club.”

Redknapp, when he was in charge of Tottenham Hotspur, was also interested in Remy this time last year, and scouted the 25 year-old several times. Indeed Remy has long been linked a move to England and there was also some tentative interest in him from Chelsea and from West Ham United.

However it appears that Newcastle have decided to make a move for Remy, which will come as a huge relief to manager Alan Pardew, who desperately needs to strengthen a squad hit by injuries and the exertions of the Europa League after last season’s achievements.

Newcastle lie 15th in the Premier League table, just two points above the bottom three, and have been hit by injuries to their two most creative players – Hatem Ben Arfa and Yohane Cabaye. Ben Arfa also joined Newcastle from Marseille and there is a strong French influence at the Tyneside club.

Pardew is keen to strengthen next month and will hope that Rémy is not the only signing Newcastle make. Negotiations are believed to have progressed smoothly and more talks could take place as early on Tuesday with Marseille president Vincent Labrune, who is due in London to meet intermediaries.

The talks will include discussing which Newcastle player is including in the deal on top of the £10 million fee which is already believed to have been agreed in principle.

So far Marseille have resisted any offers for Remy, and were insistent that they would not sell to Spurs last January, but it appears that they are now keen to reach an agreement and have circulated his availability.

Remy has fallen out of favour this season and has often been on the substitutes’ bench.

Marseille sporting director José Anigo has already conceded that Remy, who is under contract until 2015, could be sold while his agent, Bruno Satin, has been in talks with several clubs.

Remy, who has 17 caps for France, joined Marseille from Nice two years ago, since when he has scored 27 times in 68 appearances. He is also adaptable and can play out wide as well as through the middle as a main striker or behind a central attacker such as Newcastle’s Papiss Demba Cissé.

Although there will be relief among Newcastle supporters that the club are prepared to spend significantly in January – after acquiring only Vernun Anita in the summer for £6.7million and also concentrating on holding onto its star players – there will also be concern should Remy simply be regarded as a replacement for Ba.

Any deal to sign Ba is complicated by his wage demands of £70,000 a week, and also because the fees being asked for his agents are believed to be £2million.

Ba also has a chronic knee problem although that has not hampered his playing time since he first arrived in England with West Ham before joining Newcastle in the summer of 2011.

Pardew has, however, already said that he expects it to a busy month for Newcastle when the transfer window opens.

“We’re in the market — as a few clubs will be,” he said last week. Newcastle are also interested in another French international, the right-back Mathieu Debuchy, who they came close to signing in the summer from Lille. The club could also try and strengthen in central defence and the centre of midfield.

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Source: Telegraph