Seven months later than originally envisaged, Loic Remy finally arrived on Tyneside to undergo a medical ahead of a proposed season-long loan move from Queens Park Rangers on Monday.
The 26-year-old France striker had originally been en route to Newcastle United for €10.5 million from his former club, Marseille, last January only for the move to be hijacked by Harry Redknapp and QPR.
Although Remy scored six goals in 14 appearances for the Loftus Road club he failed to prevent Redknapp’s team being relegated and QPR are now anxious to be relieved of the forward’s €81,000(£70,000)-a-week wages.
Redknapp had initially wanted to sell Remy outright but with the player still on bail after being arrested on suspicion of rape, Newcastle were not prepared to make the deal permanent. Remy, who denies the allegation, expects to find out whether or not he will be charged next month.
If he does sign at St James’s Park Remy will become Newcastle’s first senior signing of a troubled summer dominated by Joe Kinnear’s controversial appointment as the club’s director of football.
Newcastle’s manager Alan Pardew is anxious to sign two strikers before the transfer window’s closure but progress has been slow. Although a bid potentially rising to more than €9.25m (£8m) has been accepted by Lyon for their France striker Bafetimbi Gomis, that deal has been “complicated” by agents’ demands.
Darren Bent, a long-term Pardew target, still seems more likely to swap Aston Villa for Fulham or, possibly, Crystal Palace, than Newcastle.
Guardian Service
