Newcastle Transfers: Magpies Again Linked With Gignac

Having been extensively scouted over the past few years by Newcastle - and having apparently also turned down the chance to sign once in the hope of a bigger club coming along - Andre-Pierre Gignac is again the subject of renewed speculation linking him to the Magpies this January. French rumour-mongers le10sport.com - they who seem to love linking everyone who's even bought a French stick to Newcastle - have again brought up the issue of the Marseille striker, who is currently banging them in. He's available for a cut price deal since his contract runs out this summer, and that surely must have pricked up the ears of Newcastle's transfer team. The latest reports include quotes from former Liverpool and Spurs transfer supremo Damien Comolli, who says Newcastle might well be a great club for Gignac to sign for:

€œI hear a lot about Gignac moving to England at the moment. I think something may be going on in January. The question is whether it will be clubs of interest, and if he will want to move in January in the middle of a great season for him. €œNow a club threatened by relegation, or a club like Tottenham, which is in trouble, could move for him.€ €œIf it is Tottenham or Newcastle, why not? These are great clubs. But he is currently the number one striker in a team that is hot, and changing to a club in trouble, it is a decision that is not easy to take for him.€

Gignac already has 10 goals this season, and even though he's 29, if the price is right his age won't really come in to it, particularly as Newcastle are currently pretty well stocked for young up and coming strikers to replace him in the long term. Obviously the potential for a sell-on wouldn't be particularly high, but his value on the pitch would also be taken into account, and he remains a smart idea in those terms. But since when did Comolli have any impact on Newcastle's transfer policy? What matters is that he has been scouted on multiple times this season, that he's comparatively affordable and that he's not signing a new contract at Marseille. So, everyone get sending him pictures of the Tyne Bridge and that on Twitter, because that's how we'll convince him...