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It has been a long, long summer. A summer with clearly identifiable needs in the squad. A summer with a humongous new revenue source available to the club. A summer with no senior squad acquisitions and subsequent frustrations from Newcastle United support. All of that is now reportedly set to fall by the wayside. Sky Tyne and Wear are reporting that Lyon president Jean-Michel Aulas has told a French outlet that a fee has been agreed between Lyon and Newcastle United for France International Bafétimbi Gomis. Interestingly (or frustratingly), the reported fee is the same €8m (£6.8m) that has been flying about for several days. If other reports are to be believed, the negotiations with the player are already concluded... 3 weeks ago? Probably not... but potentially more recently than that. There is this small little matter, though:
"The agreement is now linked to the acceptance of agents' fees. I understand that the problem is in the amount and manner of payment of commissions.
"There are several people involved in the operation, which complicates the negotiations. But I am hopeful that things will be resolved within 24 or 48 hours."
If you're like me... you're troubled by this statement. Either A) Newcastle have several people involved in this negotiating process, which is counter to the idea of Bedo Fif and problematic in and of itself, or B) Bafétimbi Gomis has a multi-tiered management structure a la Demba Ba. If it's A, then there is much room for furrowing brows and consternation and hand-wringing. If it's B, it may not mean much... but could potentially set up for difficulties closing the deal completely.