Newcastle would be mad to sell promising defender to Championship club
The Daily Mirror is reporting that Newcastle have agreed a £500,000 deal – plus bonuses – with Rotherham to sell them Haris Vuckic and James Tavernier.
Midfielder Vuckic is happy with the Millers switch, if terms can be agreed with Steve Evans’s club. However, it has been suggested that Tavernier is holding out for a more lucrative move to Wigan instead.
Wigan had been considered favourites to land the right-back’s sought-after signature. However, it now appears as though he could be heading back to newly promoted Rotherham, a team that both players had starred for during the team’s play-off winning campaign.
The Latics have offered Tavernier much better terms than Rotherham, where both he and Vuckic starred on loan.
Tavernier signed his first professional contract with Newcastle in 2008, and yet he has only appeared nine times for the club, consisting of seven starts in cup football, and just two Premier League appearances from the bench.
Considering Nile Ranger was somehow able to swindle over fifty appearances for Newcastle, it is really quite astonishing how little he has played for the Toon, especially considering the quality of his performances this season for the Millers.
Tavernier has spent time on loan at six different lower league clubs over the past four years. He has given a strong account of himself at every one of these clubs, and is clearly willing to sacrifice his time searching for first-team opportunities as opposed to sitting comfortably in the reserves.
His performances this season had, I originally thought, warranted another opportunity at Newcastle for the coming season, but it appears that Pardew thinks differently on the matter.
Though, as a fan, my perspective is not as informed as that of Pardew’s or the rest of the Newcastle management regarding the player, I do think it would be naive to let him go for such a meagre price. He has impressed immensely this season at Rotherham, he has shown attacking flair, banging in six goals from defence, and I cannot see the harm in giving him one more chance at the Toon.
Rotherham have already tied up a deal for Newcastle youngster Conor Newton this Summer, and it is looking increasingly likely that these two youngsters will follow suit over the next few days. Watch this space…
What do you think? Have any of you seen him play this season?
The Spectator's View 
Tavernier will go on to be a star player, typical newcastle poor transfer policy
No he won’t, there is a reason that he went on loan to Rotherham… why do fans have such a high opinion of our younger players I’ll never know.