Not a transfer window goes by where Newcastle are not linked to a whole host of players, most of whom are no more than nonsensical rumours fresh out of the rumour mill, nonetheless we run the rule over reported Newcastle transfer target, Loïc Rémy.

So, who is Loïc Rémy? Born January 2nd 1987, Rémy, 25, is a fast, tenacious and potent striker for Olympique de Marseille, formerly of Lyon, RC Lens & OGC Nice, and has also been capped at senior level for national side, France, 17 times

Rémy began his career playing for local outfit ASPTT Lyon, spending 7 years in the clubs youth academy from 1993-99. Rémy was scouted in ’99 by Olympique Lyonnais scouts, who offered he join their youth academy. While training at the Centre Tola Vologe, the training centre and headquarters of Lyon, Rémy trained alongside Karim Benzema, Hatem Ben Arfa, Sidney Govou & Anthony Mounier.

Rémy made his professional debut in a Derby du Rhône match against Saint-Étienne, aged 19, coming on as a substitute for Sylvain Wiltord in October of 2006, Rémy earned his first professional start the next month in a 1–0 victory over C S Sedan.

In January 2008, Rémy was sent on loan to then fellow Ligue 1 side RC Lens. Rémy was handed the number 9 shirt by Lens and made his debut in February 2008 scoring his first professional goal on his debut in a 4–1 victory over SM Caen. During his time with the club, Rémy made 12 total appearances and scored four goals in that period.

In June 2008, it was announced that Rémy was to join OGC Nice for a transfer fee of €8 million making him the most expensive transfer in the clubs history. Rémy spent 2 years on the South-East coast, making a total of 78 appearances scoring 28 times.

In August 2010, Rémy joined Olympique de Marseille for an undisclosed fee thought to be in the region of €15million, signing a 5-year deal with the 9-time French champions. During his two seasons with the club, Rémy has made 83 appearances to date, scoring 37 times in league and cup.

Rémy played 29 times for Marseille last term, playing a total of 2208 minutes, scoring 12 times, 5 assists, a goal ratio of 1 goal every 184mins.



Marseille are understood to be looking for around €18million (£14.5m) for the player, over £6million less than Liverpool are reportedly looking to attain for out-of-favour Andy Carroll, and reports are speculating that Newcastle, Tottenham Hotspur, Arsenal and Malaga are all monitoring the player.

So where would Rémy fit in with the Newcastle side? Well that all depends on what you read and what you believe, with the Demba Ba will he, won’t he saga continuing and the situation changing almost daily, it is difficult to see how the starting xi will line-up, massively depending on the future of Demba Ba.

Rémy would appear to be almost a like-for-like replacement for Demba Ba in as much as he is capable of playing both as a centre-forward as well as playing in a more wide role, as we saw Demba Ba and Hatem Ben Arfa occupy at the latter stages of last season.

As the saying goes, what will be will be and we believe that Rémy is a contingency plan being developed by Pardew, Carr & co. in the event that Demba Ba does leave the club.