Newcastle United wanted to sign St Etienne forward Jonathan Bamba in the summer and he is in fine form in Ligue 1 at the moment.
Newcastle United and Crystal Palace sent scouts to watch Jonathan Bamba in action for St Etienne against Nice on the opening day of the Ligue 1 season, a reported by L’Equipe, and they will not have been left disappointed.
The quicksilver attacker scored the winner against a side that finished third last season and qualified for the Champions League play-offs. And, in the last month, Bamba has gone from strength to strength.
He scored in the 3-0 win against Angers at the end of August and found the net again as St Etienne secured a 1-0 win at Dijon on Saturday. And that’s without mentioning a Man of the Match performance against Caen, where the 21-year-old set up the only goal of the game.
Bamba is gaining quite a healthy habit of making the difference in tight encounters.
No wonder, then, that Les Verts are keen to tie Bamba down to a new contract with his current deal expiring next summer. However, Le Progres reports that discussions over a new deal have stalled and the France Under-21 international, who has two goals in four caps, will be available on a free in 2018 as things stand.
Talks are expected to resume next week but Bamba’s future is very much uncertain for now. Therefore, Newcastle should keep a close eye on the situation.
Owner Mike Ashley defended the club’s lack of spending in the transfer market by claiming that they found it difficult to compete but there would be no excuse with regards to Bamba, who may be available at a reduced fee in January.
He is a matchwinner and, despite Newcastle winning three in a row, you can never have too many of those.
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