Llambias defends Newcastle transfer policy

Newcastle managing director Derek Llambias has defended the club’s failure to sign a striker on the final day of the transfer window.

Having missed out on the likes of Kevin Gameiro, Gervinho and Mevlut Erding earlier in the summer, the Magpies turned to Modibo Maiga, Papiss Demba Cisse and at the death, Bryan Ruiz.

But as the clock ran down to Wednesday night’s 11pm deadline, their hopes dwindled and ultimately died to leave frustrated manager Alan Pardew without a replacement for Andy Carroll for the second successive window.

However, in the wake of a furious backlash from supporters, Llambias tonight insisted the club would not make knee-jerk reactions as it sticks to a strict recruitment policy.

In a statement, he said: “Work to bring a striker into the club began early in the summer.

“Negotiations were complex and protracted and unfortunately it was disappointing that ultimately we could not secure our priority target.

“Whilst we did turn our attention to alternative prospects in the latter stages of the window, we have a very clear transfer policy and will not make knee-jerk decisions at the last-minute which are not in the best interests of the club.

“We understand that supporters will feel frustrated that we did not sign another striker during the window, but it was not for lack of trying that we did not bring our final target in.”

The task of scoring the goals to maintain Newcastle’s promising start to the new Barclays Premier League season will now rest, until January at least, with summer signing Demba Ba, Shola Ameobi, Leon Best and Peter Lovenkrands, while Ameobi’s younger brother Sammy and fellow youngster Nile Ranger currently provide the back-up.

But while the debate over the striker situation rumbled on, Llambias instead pointed to the players the club did manage to secure as evidence of the success of Newcastle’s approach.

He said: “Now that the transfer window has closed, we have had some time to reflect on the business we have conducted over the summer.

“Our aim was to secure young players who represented value for money and could add real strength to the squad.

“The majority of our transfer dealings were completed in the early part of the window and we feel we have signed some players of exceptional quality.

“Yohan Cabaye, Sylvain Marveaux, Mehdi Abeid, Demba Ba and Gabriel Obertan were all brought in early and we have seen these players settle quickly into the squad and perform well on the pitch.

“Earlier this week we were delighted to sign Davide Santon from Inter Milan to fill our left-back position after the departure of Jose Enrique.

“Davide is an excellent young prospect and we are sure he will be another superb addition to the squad.

“We also welcomed young goalkeeper Rob Elliot from Charlton Athletic who will help us retain healthy competition for that position after loaning out Fraser Forster to Celtic.

“Of course we had also hoped to secure a further striker in the window, in addition to Demba Ba.”