UNLUCKY HELDER SET TO LEAVE
Deportivo, who currently lead La Liga by three points are £4 million apart in their valuation of Helder, with the Spanish side looking for that figure as the fee but Newcastle boss Bobby Robson wanting to sign the player on a free.
With the player already ruled out of Sunday's final game against Arsenal at St James's Park because of a groin injury it looks like Helder, who has made a great impression on the Magpies faithful, has played his last game in black and white stripes.
It seems Deportivo knew more than they were telling when Helder was allowed to come to these shores as it was only a knee injury that allowed the player to come to Newcastle in a deal worth £500,000.
With Robson only having £15 million plus whatever he can garner from selling player in his account, a £4 million deal for such an injury-prone player seems unlikely to happen.
The Newcastle boss said: "Helder won't play on Sunday and this means he won't have been involved for the last five or six weeks of the season.
"What we are saying to Deportivo La Coruna is that because of his injuries he is a free transfer player."
With a plethora of central defenders on the St James's books it seems unlikely that Robson would want to splash out on another although he could offer Marcelino in part-exchange for Helder and maybe get some cash into the bargain.
Another Magpies defender in the news is Greek international Nikos Dabizas. Having established himself as a first-team regular he has been talking to the Greek press about his season.
Dabizas said: "For me the season started when Bob Robson took over the coaching position at Newcastle. Until then I had started and competed in 40 Premiership games proving that I could do my job."
With Gullit in charge, Dabizas suffered the ignomy of being substituted midway through the first half of a friendly with Dundee United. At the time the player stated that he wanted to leave the North-Eastern giants for a Greek team, with his ex-team Olympiakos top of his list.
But now Dabizas as happy with his role as he explained: "As things turned out, this year has been very good to me and my team as well. It might be that we didn't reach the English Cup final like we did the past two years, and we didn't secure a European spot, but I'm not the only one believing that this was one of the most productive years at Newcastle."
