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Not many players get a second chance to join a club they had previously rejected.

In most circumstances, say no to a club just once and that’s it.

Unless you are something special, one knock-back is all it takes to turn off a manager for good.

If said manager is going to soften and give the player an opportunity to redeem himself, it normally takes a year or so for any bad feeling to disappear.

And yet Loic Remy. who choose QPR over Newcastle United in January of this year, looks to be on his way to St James’ Park.

He’s a lucky boy to get this opportunity.

It’s not every manager that would forgive and forget, and I’m quite sure Alan Pardew is aware that the fans will not be quite so understanding.

Newcastle fans are yet to be convinced that going for someone who seemed to say no to the club having said yes a few days previous is not the greatest idea.

Remy went to QPR, who were all-but relegated, because they offered him more money. A lot more money.

That’s hardly a secret.

I said at the time that it was a mistake and that I was also disappointed.

I know Remy well. I believe him to a top class player who would have fitted right into the team.

Had he signed back then, he would have scored a few goals for us and I’m as sure as I can be we would not have struggled as badly.

I thought that was the last we would see of him.

However, football is never predictable.

If things can get sorted out then Remy will, at the second time of asking, join Newcastle, most probably on a loan deal.

There will be some out there who won’t be happy about this.

Take it from me, this is a good thing.

Remy is a really good footballer and just what the team needs right now.

If he starts well and bangs in a few goals, then you won’t hear many muttering about what he did back in the winter.

That has gone. Let’s leave it behind.

We should embrace the fact that after what has been a long summer, the club are on the verge of signing a quality player.

Remy ticks a lot of boxes.

The best way for me to describe him is to say he is like Yoan Gouffran except for a few things.

He is quicker, stronger, has more natural ability and is a far, far better finisher.

And when you consider Gouffran has done well, that’s not a bad CV.

His best position is with to the right hand side of a three-man attack, or just behind the striker, in the what is known as the No10 role.

Remy can play up-front on his own. He has the pace to get behind defenders with almost embarrassing ease.

But I can see Papiss Cisse starting there, with Remy buzzing around him.

In fact, a Cisse, Remy, and Hatem Ben Arfa attack excites me.

There’s an awful lot of goals in that quality trio.

All of a sudden I’m quite excited about how the team could line up against Manchester City on August 19.

We shall see what happens with Bafetimbi Gomis - a transfer that has turned into a saga - and I would welcome more new faces.

Remy is a start and a good one at that.

I have hardly been along in saying the club need to sign players for the here and now.

There are enough young guys in the first-team squad who are seen as starts of the future.

Newcastle need stars of today.

That’s exactly what Remy is.

I have watched his progress for a long time now and he’s blossomed into a top class striker, someone who is more than capable of scoring and creating goals in the Premier League.

Cisse was too isolated last season after Demba Ba left. We need someone to get closer to him this season and Remy is that man.

Pardew deserves praise for not holding a grudge.

He could easily have dismissed Remy because of how he acted back in January.

But the manager of a football club such as Newcastle United has to be bigger than that.

Pardew sees Remy for what he is, the ideal player for his team.

That’s honestly the only thing that counts.

And the players already at the club won’t care that the new boy said no a few months ago.

That’s not how dressing rooms operate.

All they will care about is whether the guy can play football or not.

And he can.

It would be better if three or four had been signed by now.

Nobody disputes this.

But for me the most important thing for next season is if the eleven guys in black and white shirts play together as a team.

We have good players at the football club. If they reach their potential then good things will happen, with a bit of help.

Remy is a step in the right direction.