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Emmanuel Rivière to Newcastle – Can he Replace Loic Remy?

After a serious lack of transfer activity in 2013/2014, Newcastle have been getting their cheque book out this season.  The Magpies have already made a plethora of signings this summer window.  Their latest signing is French striker Emmanuel Rivière.  Rivière is arriving to the North of England from the French principality of Monaco.

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Rivière will be leaving France for the first time in his career to make his move to St James’ Park.  The French striker spent a season and a half with the emerging French super power, AS Monaco. Newcastle signed their new striker for a reported £6m.  Pardew will hope that Rivière can come in and help improve the striking options, something they were short of last term.  With the loan of QPR striker Loïc Rémy ending at the end of the season, the Magpies will need to be able to replace his goals.  They will hope Rivière will be able to help with that job.

What Rivière did last season:

Rivière made 19 starts and 11 substitute appearances in Ligue 1 last season with Monaco.  The Frenchman ended as the club’s top scorer with 10 goals in the league.  The former Toulouse striker created a chance every 70 minutes and completed 78% of his passes.  Rivière scored with 19.6% of his shots at Monaco, including 59% of his shots on target.  The Martinique born hit-man showed he had a nose for the goals, scoring nine goals from inside the penalty area.

What he has to replace:

It looks unlikely that Newcastle’s star striker last season, Loic Remy, will return to Tyneside after his loan ended.  The striker returned to QPR, but now seems to be looking for a move to a top six club.  Remy was vital for Newcastle last season, especially after the departure of Yohan Cabaye. The French striker bagged a goal every 150 minutes for the Magpies and fourteen goals overall.  The QPR striker created a chance every 69.9 minutes along with grabbing three assists and completing 81% of his passes. Remy put 49% of his shots on target and converted 22% of his chances.  The former Marseilles striker scored 32.5% of Newcastle’s goals last season.

Graphic courtesy of Squawka.
Graphic courtesy of Squawka.

Remy was a constant threat for opposing defences.  He had the pace to threaten teams that played a high defensive line or to counter attack against teams that dominated the ball.  The French striker had a nose for goals, scoring 12 of his 14 goals from inside the penalty box. For much of the early part of the campaign Newcastle did very well with Cabaye and Remy as their main weapons. When Cabaye was sold in January and the QPR loanee went down with an injury, the Magpies struggled significantly. After the striker came back from injury, the team’s performances and results improved.  The Frenchman’s absence showed his importance nearly as much as his time on the pitch did.

Newcastle will struggle replacing the production of Remy, but they are bringing in quality players to make up for it.  After a frustrating summer in 2013, Mike Ashley has got his wallet out and has already made quality buys to inject the team with more quality.  Rivière seems similar to Remy, but not quite as good.  He can function as a replacement and help replace the QPR man’s goals, but will likely struggle to do it on his own.

thejerseyfitz
thejerseyfitz
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