Pancrate: The agent's patter in full

In a spectacularly comic news statement, Fabrice Pancrate's agent has delivered the latest line in patter as he aims to deliver his client a move. I don't think anything could quite compare to greasing a club quite as much as Farid Belkacemi's statement, where he said:

"Fabrice loves Newcastle. Many clubs in France want him because he is free. Nantes, Strasbourg . . . they offered him a big contract just yesterday but he says: 'I prefer Newcastle`.

The French don`t understand why. They say: 'But Newcastle are not in the Premier League!` But Fabrice loves the professional environment, the town and the mentality of the supporters.

Of course, he is ambitious, and Newcastle is the only team in the Championship he would play for, because he believes they will soon be back in the Premier League. He told me: 'I am a black man, but in my blood, I am black and white!`

So we fly back to Newcastle on Monday night and we hope we can sign next week. He is 200 per cent for Newcastle.

He called Habib Beye and Didier Domi, and they told him Newcastle is a good city and a great club. He is also very friendly with Didier Digard of Middlesbrough who told him the same.

Fabrice said: 'Maybe the weather is cold, but it`s not a problem because the people have warm hearts.`'

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