NEWCASTLE UNITED'S French contingent are planning to talk English during the summer break in the hope of preventing another season of relegation trouble at St James' Park.
With communication identified as a problem during a testing final few months of the Premier League season, manager Alan Pardew is looking for that to improve before the new campaign begins in August.
Newcastle are continuing to look at the overseas market to boost their squad so it could be that more foreign players are bought in.
But Pardew wants his players to communicate better to they can look out for each other on the pitch. He realised there was a problem after Massadio Haidara, Moussa Sissoko, Yoan Gouffran, Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa and Mathieu Debuchy were purchased from the French league in January with limited English between them.
Haidara, speaking through a translator, admits that has been a concern and is keen to put that right as soon as he can.
“I will have no choice but to learn English over the summer! I am going to the United States so will have no choice but to learn English. It will be good to keep learning English while I am on holiday,” he said.
“I will try to make sure I advance my English - I think it is very important to help me to settle in. The manager hasn't told us especially to go away and learn English but he knows that it's important we understand English.
“There won't always be an interpreter there for us to translate so we need to learn the language to understand what is going on - whether that's on the pitch or in our life. We need to be able to speak English. That is a big thing for us this summer.”
Pardew has even explored the possibility of not having a translator around the training ground next season, knowing how the likes of Yohan Cabaye and Davide Santon had to learn English quickly without one when they first joined the Magpies.
And if Haidara could grasp English better then it would clearly be beneficial to him as a full-back and the rest of the defence he plays in.
The 20-year-old has plenty of potential and has already shown enough in his appearances to suggest Newcastle have landed another bargain after paying £2.5m to Nancy for him. He also predicts there is more to come from him.
“I hope it will help to have a summer behind us. I hope it will be a bit easier for us than it was in January, when we had to get used to English football very quickly,” said Haidara.
“Obviously it was up to me and the team to get used to it as quickly as we could, which was tough because there was already a squad and a team in place. It was always going to be difficult to come straight into that, especially in the Premier League.
“Now we have started to get used to it and how things work in England so it is up to us. We must continue to work and graft and move on from there.”
When Pardew met the club's owner Mike Ashley last Wednesday he expressed a wish to bring in two more strikers, but there are fears some of their prize assets will be targeted this summer.
Monaco, who have millions to spend after overseas investment and promotion, are considering a number of players and Newcastle winger Hatem Ben Arfa is one of those on their radar.
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