Newcastle grab Enrique in £6.3m move
Sam Allardyce is making up for lost time in the summer transfer market
Monday, 06, Aug 2007 10:11
Newcastle United have added Spain under-21 defender Jose Enrique to their squad for the coming season after agreeing a fee of £6.3 million with Villarreal for his services.
The 21-year-old left-back will join fellow new signings David Rozehnal and Claudio Cacapa in Sam Allardyce's remodelled Tyneside backline.
Titus Bramble, Craig Moore and Oliver Bernard have all been shown the door since the former Bolton boss's arrival at St James' Park and the first priority for new owner Mike Ashley's millions has been to shore up the leaky rearguard.
"I believe very much in the manager at Newcastle United and I believe they are going to be one of the top teams," Enrique told the club's official website.
"I met Sam for dinner and I was very happy to listen to his plans for Newcastle United.
"He treated me very well and he understands me. He knows I have to get used to a lot of new things, like changes in culture and language, but he says he is going to help me adapt to that."
The flow of reinforcements may not be finished yet with speculation that Serbian international Ivica Dragutinovic could also be on his way to the north-east.
The 31-year-old centre-back, an international colleague of Manchester United's Nemanja Vidic, currently plys his trade at Sevilla, but has only a year remaining on his current contract with Juande Ramos' side.