Sol Campbell is expected to seal a move to Newcastle United in the next few days as Chris Hughton looks to strengthen his squad in time for the Premier League kick-off. The 35 year old defender, who would provide excellent cover, looks set to replace Steven Taylor in the Toon first eleven who is currently out injured. Campbell was expected to have a medical on Tyneside on Tuesday afternoon.

Other Newcastle transfer news includes rumours surrounding a permanent or season long loan deal for Man Utd midfielder Tom Cleverley, and the rumours about Hatem Ben Arfa just won’t go away. Whatever happens over the next few weeks, let’s just hope that the players who come in can actually strengthen the squad, rather than just be paperweights in a difficult Premier League campaign.

UPDATE: News finally broke this week that Newcastle won the battle for Dan Gosling’s signature as the promising midfielder signed for Newcastle United  and will wear the number 15 shirt.

This can’t be confirmed as of yet – there are also rumours eminating that Gosling has signed for West Ham on a 17k p/week deal. But, there’s no smoke withoot fire…

The Daily Mirror are reporting that Newcastle United have completed the signing of former Everton midfielder Dan Gosling. Gosling, who left Everton after failing to sign a contract, was up for grabs for nothing and it appears that Newcastle may have gazumped Bolton, who showed concrete interest in the player (there are rumours that the Mackems and West Ham were also interested).

Gosling is rumoured to have signed on a 4 year deal worth £25k a week. However, all is not rosy with the signing. Gosling is currently out injured and won’t be able to play for another 3 months. A short-term loan signing for cover would be ideal – Jack Wilshire anyone?

Back in January Perch was mentioned alongside Danny Simpson as one the possible buys we could make and Sky Sports News have confirmed today that NUFC have signed James Perch from Nottingham Forest on a four year deal.

The product of Forest’s youth academy can play anywhere across the backline, and has played in midfield when needed.

James Perch represents Newcastle’s first foray into the transfer market this summer, and no transfer fee has been mentioned for the signing of the 24 year old.

This signing doesn’t really set the world alight, but it’s a shrewd bit of business by Hughton who seems to rate the defender highly. Toon fans, what do you think? Forest fans, have Newcastle signed a goodun’?

Rumour has it that the Toon are in for Swindon’s young striker Charlie Austin. The 20 year old joined Swindon from non-league Poole Town. He’s recently came to the limelight because of his 16 goals in 22 starts.

Austin has been watched by Newcastle several times this season, most recently last weekend against Hartlepool.

He certainly fits Mike Ashley’s transfer policy – a young up and comer, who the club could sell on for a profit. But is this the kind of signing we need to be making? If we’re to stay up in the Premier League (should we get promoted) we need to sign proven Premier League players. While Austin would certainly be a good buy for the future, the task of leading our front line next against Premier League defenders needs to be done by a proven player, otherwise it could well be a season of survival.

So, just who is Mike Williamson? Good question!

The lad stands at 6ft 4″, way taller than either Coloccini or Steven Taylor (and Shola Ameobi for that matter). He’s had spells at both Wycombe and Watford, and by all account was pretty decent during his time at the Hornets. Since most players seem to be on the chopping blog at Portsmouth, any decent bid for a Pompey player has always looked odds on at being accepted. Rumour has it that he hasn’t played any games for Portsmouth because they would owe more money to Watford for playing appearances.

It’s a bit of an underwhelming signing, but he provides good cover. The question has to be asked though, would we spend £2 Million on a player who’s predominant role is going to be warming the bench? It looks like the Mackems have got Kilgallon (cheers Brucie ~ he’s all yours!), so our attention should now be placed on a more attacking-minded signing. Perch coming in would be a good start.

Here’s to Mike Ashley emptying his pockets of fluff and finding us a few bob to spend.

Sky Sports are reporting that Newcastle United and Manchester United have agreed to a fee that would see Danny Simpson join Newcastle on a permanent basis. The Toon and Man United have been at differing ends over the value of the full-back but it looks like the two clubs have agreed to terms. It is likely that Danny Simpson will have a medical tomorrow before putting pen to paper on a two three-and-a-half year deal.

There was also a report earlier on today from the Chronicle’s Lee Ryder which said Newcastle were after Nottingham Forest midfielder James Perch. I’m quite happy to be proved wrong, but I believe that this one is pretty much a non-starter, just like the reports that had us signing Wilshere from Arsenal on a 5 month deal (stranger things have happened – this is Newcastle United after all).

The club today confirmed the signing of Danny Simpson by releasing a statement on the official website:

NEWCASTLE United have completed the permanent signing of Danny Simpson for an undisclosed fee from Manchester United.

The 23-year-old has been on loan at St.James’ Park since August of last year and has impressed during his 22 appearances this season.

Simpson pens a three-and-a-half-year deal with The Magpies and will continue to wear the No.12 jersey.

Manager Chris Hughton told nufc.co.uk: “We’re delighted to complete a permanent deal for Danny.

“He’s a player who has been with us since the summer and has played a key role during the first half of the season.

“Danny is a very popular lad in the dressing room and he took no time at all to settle in.

“He was always a player we wanted to keep at the club and he was very keen to stay given how much he’s enjoyed his time here.”

In a step which will take him closer to a move away from the Elland Road club, Leeds striker Jermaine Beckford has formally requested a transfer away from his current club.

A statement from the Leeds United website is as follows:

Leeds United can confirm that Jermaine Beckford has handed in a transfer request. The transfer request was handed in on Dec 30. By handing in a transfer request it clearly indicates that the player wants to leave Leeds United.However, that will only be allowed to happen in the event that it is decided to be in the best interests of Leeds United. The best interests of Leeds United involve receiving both an acceptable transfer fee and securing a suitable replacement to ensure his departure does not have an adverse effect on the club’s overall aim of securing promotion back to the Championship.

In a After Beckford’s goal against Man Utd in the F.A Cup last weekend, it is unlikely that Leeds will let Beckford leave for anywhere less than £2 million. In Newcastle’s favour however, is Beckford’s want away attitude. It is clear that Beckford wants to leave Leeds, and money talks, so let’s hope Mike Ashley gets his cheque book out and gives Leeds what they’re asking.

After our inability to put away our chances yesterday, Chris Hughton (after speaking with the Chronicle), has admitted that Jermaine Beckford is one of a few players that Newcastle United are interested in signing. Beckford has always been fancied by Newcastle – Kinnear wanted him, Shearer wanted him, now it looks like it’s Hughton’s turn. The judgment on whether he’ll take us to the next level are out though – is he Premier League material?

Also mentioned is Michael Chopra. Chris Hughton looks like he fancies the combination of one biggun’ and one luttlun’ up front for Newcastle and we have Ameobi and Carroll as the biggun, and Lovenkrands and Ranger as the littlun’. Bringing in Chopra could mean that Lovenkrands plays out wide. However, unlike Beckford, the Chopra stories have so far been unsubstantiated.

A centre-half and a striker have been the playing areas Hughton has gone on record as saying he’d like to strengthen. But with Coloccini and Taylor doing a pretty good job, who would make way? It was thought that Sheffield United would like to cash in on defender Mathew Kilgallon before his contract ends at the end of the season. Their manager Kevin Blackwell confirmed that their star defender could be set to stay with the Blades until his contract ends. If the Toon want Kilgallon in January, they’re going to have to put up some cash for him, and he may not come cheap.

The January transfer window opens on Friday lads and lasses, and there’s only a matter of time to see whether Mike Ashley will put his money where his mouth is and back the Newcastle United manager in the transfer market.

Update: The official site now confirms that Pancrate has signed a deal that will see him spend the rest of the season at Newcastle with an option to extend.

When Barry Moat‘s Newcastle United takeover bid failed, a lot of supporters feared that without money to invest in players, we’d struggle to add to our already depleted squad. The current Newcastle squad is probably just good enough to get out of the Championship, but without further investment, it’s looking bleak for our future Premier League survival.

One thing that we’ve lacked this season is pace. Only Lovenkrands possesses any kind of natural speed, and in games where other teams shut up shop, a burst of speed can often make the difference. Fortunately, a French bloke called Fabrice Pancrate looks like he’s got bags of pace, which Chris Hughton has certainly picked up on during training and Pancrate’s debut against Hartlepool reserves earlier in the week.

Hopefully this deal can go through, and Hughton has gone on record saying he’d make a decision by the end of this week, so it looks like we’ll find out soon enough.

When Sol Campbell signed for The Magpies, there were many who thought he just got his directions wrong when he ended up at Notts County. An ex England international with a distinguished career, playing for a League Two club, but for how long? The accusations levelled against Campbell were that he walked out during a training session. Campbell meanwhile, dismisses those accusations altogether.

Nevertheless, regardless of what happened at Notts County, Campbell is still a decent player and could do more than a job for us. There are questions over his eligibility as Notts County are still to release the player’s registration. This means that Campbell is prohibited from moving clubs as long as his previous club hold onto his registration.

A Football League commission will hear the case of Campbell’s registration on December 10th. If the commission clears Campbell to play for another club, it is thought that he will join his preferred choice, Newcastle United. The player is lacking match fitness and probably wouldn’t be available until the New Year.