Papiss Cisse and Demba Ba To Stay With Toon

In news that is sure to please Alan Pardew, the roster for Senegal's squad for the London Olympics has been announced and neither of Newcastle's prized strikers are included. Senegal have instead turned to Copenhagen striker (and reported possible Toon target) Dame N'Doye and Osasuna's Ibrahima Balde as over-age inclusions in the striker ranks. Interestingly, the squad includes a seemingly disproportionate number of strikers on the low end (3) instead of on the high end as it did for Senegal's failed ACON campaign from January.

With the specter of the early fixture congestion not to be cleared up (or not) until the second week of August, the club will be pleased to be able to control the amount of work that Double Demba put in prior to the start of the season, especially in light of the apparent failure to land Luuk de Jong from FC Twente. Long term, of course, this is a temporary reprieve for the club as both Dembas will surely be included for the second-in-a-row ACON in January, but it is certainly good news for today and the early season for Newcastle United.