Newcastle Rejects Arsenal’s Bid For Yohan Cabaye

Newcastle have rejected an Arsenal bid of around £10m for highly-rated French midfielder Yohan Cabaye.The Gunners’ Premier League season began with a miserable 3-1 home loss to Aston Villa at the Emirates on Saturday and boss Arsene Wenger has been criticised for not strengthening his squad this summer.

But Wenger has made it clear he does expect to make signings before the transfer window closes at the end of the month and Cabaye has now emerged as a target.

However, Newcastle are not thought to have paid much less than £10m for Cabaye themselves and have turned down Arsenal’s offer.

The 27-year-old Cabaye has been linked with several clubs over the summer, notably French champions Paris Saint Germain.

And Arsenal have now entered the running for the France international, who joined Newcastle from Lille in the summer of 2011 and helped the Magpies to finish fifth in the Premier League that season.

Newcastle did not fare so well last term, perhaps in part because Cabaye, who has been capped 23 times by France, had to miss some time due to injury.

This is Arsenal’s second unsuccessful foray into the transfer market this summer following their failure to acquire Liverpool forward Luis Suarez after lodging a well-publicised £40m + £1 bid.

And the pressure on Wenger to spend has increased following the news that the Arsenal Supporters Trust have released a statement saying it would be ‘inappropriate’ to offer the long-serving boss a new contract.

In a related development, Everton have rejected a joint £28m bid from Manchester United for Marouane Fellaini and Leighton Baines.



United manager David Moyes is very familiar with England left-back Baines and Belgium midfielder Fellaini from his time at the helm of the Goodison Park side.

And it has long been speculated that he might be keen to take one or both of the duo with him to Old Trafford.

However, Everton are determined to retain two of their most important players and released a club statement which read: “Everton can confirm that it has received bids from Manchester United for two players.

“Those bids were immediately rejected out of hand as derisory and insulting.

“The club did not make public these details as it was vital Roberto Martinez’s preparations for the opening game of the Premier League season were not disrupted in any way.”

Baines and Fellaini were both in the Everton line-up on Saturday as the Merseyside club began Premier League life under new boss Roberto Martinez with a 2-2 draw at Norwich.

Fellaini was signed by Moyes for Everton in 2008 for £15m, which rose to £17.5m with add-ons.

But it could be argued United are only offering around £16m for the player, considering they have previously had a £12m bid for Baines rejected.

According to reports, Fellaini’s contract included a £23.5m release clause, but that expired at the end of July.