With Mathieu Debuchy joining Arsenal for a fee reported to be in the region of £12m, Newcastle finally completed their temporarily delayed move for Feyenoord's Dutch international full-back Daryl Janmaat, who will take the Frenchman's position in the first team. The 24 year old, who has just returned from World Cup duties with his national side, has signed a six year deal at the North East club, and becomes officially the sixth signing in Newcastle's busy pre-season, after Alan Pardew strengthened his small squad with the signings of Jack Colback, Ayoze Perez, Siem De Jong, Remy Cabella and Emmanuel Riviere. The acquisition also marks a new strategy - and some might say one that has been a long time coming - of bringing replacements in before allowing saleable assets to leave the club, a philosophy that might have protected the club from some of the more well-publicised criticism in the past three or four seasons. Having started his career at Feyenoord, Janmaat moved to ADO Den Haag at the age of 18, earning himself a move to Heerenveen, before returning to Rotterdam and Feyenoord in 2012 - the same year he made his senior Holland debut - where he put in 74 appearances and scored 5 goals. Janmaat spoke to the club's official website after the deal was confirmed:
This is a fantastic club, with a big history and a great stadium. I have also been told all about how great the fans are. This is the perfect move for me, and I am really looking forward to being with the team and getting started here at Newcastle. "I think we are going to have a great season."
Alan Pardew greeted the move with praise of the player:
We are delighted to bring Daryl to the club. He is the perfect example of a modern full-back, someone who is good defensively but offers a real threat going forward as well. "Daryl had an excellent World Cup and we are looking forward to him continuing that form for Newcastle."
What do you think of this signing? Will Janmaat be able to fill Debuchy's boots? Share your thoughts below in the comments section.
