Last Chance For Luque - Patience Is At An End
By Nu Mad
Updated Friday, 13th July 2007
The problem Newcastle have with Albert Luque seems to be never ending. The player isn't happy on Tyneside; he has not played anywhere near his best because of it; nobody else will pay his high wages; and we are stuck with him.
So what do you do?
Exactly one year ago to the day Glenn Roeder (the then Newcastle United boss) said: "The slate has been scrubbed clean, we start a new season and I think Albert will show us why he has been capped at the highest level for Spain. He has had his problems here, but we start fresh".
And what happened? Another season of nothingness from the striker. And today ...
Albert Luque has been told he does have a future at Newcastle United, despite missing the club's pre-season trip to Austria.
Luque was unable to make the team-bonding trip with Sam Allardyce and the rest of the squad last week because he was getting married.
But the £9.5million forward, who has scored just one Premiership goal and started six League games in two seasons, has been assured he can resurrect his career at St James' Park, with no clubs yet to show interest in the £45,000-aweek Spaniard.
Allardyce: "It would have been nice to have had Albert in Austria as he would have benefited from that, but his attitude has been exceptionally good.
"I had a little talk with him before we went off to Austria. He got married at the weekend but has not had a honeymoon. He has been at the training ground on his own for the past few days and it shows he is willing to rejoin the fold.
"While he has had criticism about the size of his fee and some of his performances have been disappointing, he does not feel he has ever been able to grasp his chance because of his injury and time it has taken him to settle in.
"He has been fighting against that but if we can get more out of him, we will have another very valuable player on our hands."
