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If reports that surfaced last night are to be believed, Newcastle Jets management are currently in the UK attempting to negotiate a deal to bring former England striker Emile Heskey to the club. It would be a colossal mistake.
Twitter was abuzz last night following a report that Heskey, who is currently without a club after being released by Aston Villa last season, could be heading to the A-League.
Throughout the seven-year history of the A-League there has always been the thirst for former EPL stars to become marquee signings, and it is understandable that demand is high at the moment, with clubs wanting to try and emulate (to a very minor extent, at least) Sydney FC’s signing of Alessandro Del Piero.
But past experience illustrates that strikers well over the 30-years-old mark often miss the mark, and the Jets should know this as well as anybody.
In 2007, the Newcastle club signed former Galatasaray and Porto striker Mario Jardel on the wishes of the owner at the time, Con Constantine.
The then 34-year-old barely made a ripple in his time with the Jets, managing just 11 appearances and failing to hit the net once.
If that wasn’t enough, the following season they then went with the – admittedly much younger, at 25 – Ecuadorian striker Edmundo Zura.
Zura came to Australia with the reputation of scoring goals and producing his famed ‘Spiderman mask’ celebration, but Jets fans failed to see him celebrate even once during his nine-game spell at the club.
To Heskey. For the uninitiated, Heskey burst onto to scene in England during the late 90s as an old-fashioned target man for Leicester City.
By the turn of the century Heskey had begun to appear for the national side, and joined Liverpool in 2000 in an £11m move, and went on to manage 39 goals in 150 appearances for the Merseyside club in a relatively successful spell.
Heskey was still a relative force when he joined Birmingham in 2004, and was a crucial part of the newly promoted Wigan Atheletic in the three seasons he spent there.
But his career has been well and truly on the wane since his move to Aston Villa in 2009, a fact highlighted by his meagre return of 15 goals in 111 matches for the club.
As mobility and fitness began to abandon him, Heskey often went through long, barren goalless droughts and was often a target of opposition fans.
Not exactly desirable for any club trying to sign him, even in a less established competition such as the A-League.
What makes this so puzzling is the fact that Jets boss Gary van Egmond has spent the off-season stockpiling his squad with young, athletic players capable of playing a high-tempo, high-pressing brand of football.
As somebody who has made his name around being the number nine for teams favouring route-one English football in recent years, Heskey hardly seems compatible with the style of the Jets are aiming to play.
Potentially, fingers point to owner Nathan Tinkler demanding that management trying and bring in somebody to attempt to match the publicity surrounding Del Piero.
That said, his indifference to football and his current problems over his other businesses makes you question whether Tinkler would even know who Del Piero was before he signed for Sydney FC.
You’d expect that Jets CEO Robbie Middleby, who should have considerable football knowledge accumulated over a distinguished professional career, would be in sync with what van Egmond is trying to do at Newcastle.
While Jets management should be applauded for taking a proactive approach in trying to land a big fish, they must not let Tinkler’s money burn a hole in their pocket and grab the first available ‘name player’.
Heskey will become another headstone in the graveyard of A-League marquee failures, a prospect that would cause the Jets considerable embarrassment should Del Piero succeed at their Sky Blue rivals.
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