Cabaye departure will leave a hole, fears Newcastle United boss

Alan Pardew is hoping that Newcastle United do not leave themselves with insufficient time to react in the transfer window if Yohan Cabaye is sold.

                                   

The Magpies have not received any concrete offers for the French international midfielder, but Pardew admitted that speculation surrounding his future is correct after he was linked with Paris St-Germain, Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United this summer.

All three retain an interest but no scouts from any of the three clubs were present for the 1-1 draw with Braga, with Arsenal understood to be the only club searching for new talent on Saturday evening.

Newcastle fans are still scarred from the sale of Andy Carroll two years ago when the big striker was sold on deadline day in January. Newcastle did not have enough time to bring in a replacement.

Now Pardew doesn’t want to put fans through a similar scenario should Cabaye be sold.

He told the Chronicle: “That’s a worry.

“We’ve had that before with Andy Carroll and it was a tricky time to lose Andy when we did.

“We managed to overcome that. But you don’t want to make it a habit.”

Should director of football Joe Kinnear sanction the sale of Cabaye without bringing in an adequate replacement, it would crank up the pressure on the ex-Wimbledon boss.

There were no protests about Kinnear during the friendly with Braga, like there had been in the away fixture at Blackpool.

Kinnear himself said in June that Cabaye would not be sold because he was “under contract” and Pardew is desperate to retain the ex-Lille man. The manager said: “For me, of course I want to keep him.

“If one of the big clubs comes with a massive offer we will have to react to that.

“As it stands at the moment there have still been no offers. He remains our player and myself and the fans would love to see him stay come September 2, and still be in a black and white shirt.”

But Pardew knows that other clubs are still keen on Cabaye. PSG boss Laurent Blanc has continually spoken publicly about his admiration for the France international.

Pardew said: “The speculation about Cabaye is right.

“He’s a top player and I wouldn’t expect no less. It’s good for his confidence.” And Pardew also added about Cabaye: “He’s not caused me one problem and he’s worked really hard.

“His professionalism has been brilliant and our fans need to know that.”