Newcastle manager Alan Pardew accused Arsenal of showing a lack of respect by lodging a bid for key midfielder Yohan Cabaye only hours before his team's opening Premier League game on Monday.
Cabaye missed Newcastle's 4-0 loss to Manchester City because Pardew said the France international wasn't in the right frame of mind to play. "We've prepared with the lad for three days," Pardew said, "and then for him to have his head turned by this bid from Arsenal on the eve of a game is just disrespectful in my view."
"Why they couldn't give us the respect and honour of waiting till Tuesday morning is beyond me," Pardew said, adding that he is "upset" by the situation and that Arsenal's offer, reported in the British media to be about 10 million pounds ($15.65 million), is "below our valuation of the player, for sure."
Cabaye is the latest leading player to be left unsettled by a bid from a rival Premier League team this summer. Manchester United have turned down two bids from Chelsea for striker Wayne Rooney and Liverpool are refusing to let Uruguay international Luis Suarez leave following an offer in excess of 40 million pounds from Arsenal.
Together with Real Madrid's pursuit of Tottenham winger Gareth Bale, these are transfer stories that will run and run until the window closes on September 2. For that reason, Pardew believes the summer window should be closed before the season begins.
"He [Cabaye] is a player that you put in Suarez and Bale's situation," Pardew said. "I think there's a question of the window being closed before we kick off the Premier League season.
"I know the Premier League did enquire to the European leagues to perhaps do it, and they said the European leagues wouldn't fall in line. But after the summer we have had, with the situations we have had with Rooney as well, it's definitely something they need to put under the microscope once again."
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