Faye signs for Newcastle

Last updated : 25 January 2005 By Keith Allman
It's been a long time coming, but Amdy Faye has left Portsmouth.

Ever since the summer Faye's agent Willie McKay has been desperately trying to find a new club for his client, frequently spouting crap in the media and constantly trying to reignite talks for a deal. I'm sure it's nothing to do with any percentage of a fee that McKay would get, of course, and completely to do with being a professional. Interest from Fulham, Villa, Middlesbrough and Birmingham came and went, but the front runner in recent weeks has been Newcastle.

A four year deal taking the player to St James' Park was sealed today, with Graeme Souness clearly delighted with his new signing. The ex-Scummer said of the move, "We are delighted to have him on board and he will be a really valuable addition to our squad." Faye made 52 appearances during his time at Fratton without scoring a goal since his £1.5m move from Auxerre last summer, his last of which ended deep into injury time against Blackburn, when he was sent off. To be honest he's never been the most consistent or popular of players at Fratton Park, and if we can get a decent replacement I don't think we'll miss him too much. But we certainly need to act sooner rather than later, having lost both of our main centre midfield choices in the last three weeks.