Newcastle Transfers: 10 French Bargains Pardew Should Target In January

3. Jérémy Toulalan

Club: Monaco If Pardew is looking for the kind of player who will help protect his defence with a cool head, technical ability and a great tackle, he'd do a lot worse than to consider Monaco's Toulalan. He is an unspectacular but effective player, built on simple pillars like good distribution and retaining possession, and would seemingly slot into Newcastle's current model, especially if either Anita or Tiote leave in one of the coming windows. Likelihood Again, he's an older option, but he's got bags of experience, both on the pitch as well as in playing abroad (having spent time at Malaga), and crucially, he's also versatile enough to play at both defensive midfield and centre-half. His style would also suit Pardew's non-nonsense possession game, as he's hugely efficient with the ball at his feet. Unfortunately, his age likely rules him out, even amidst Pardew's calls for experience to be added to the squad - and he has that French camp mutiny hanging over his head, which is unlikely to win him fans at board level.