Barton Set To Seal Magpies Switch
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Barton Set To Seal Magpies Switch
Joey Barton has committed his future to Newcastle after a whirlwind day on Tyneside.
The 24-year-old Manchester City midfielder is understood to have put pen to paper on a five-year deal at St James' Park after the Magpies fended off competition from West Ham to clinch his £5.5m signing.
Barton's capture came after Sam Allardyce beat Hammers boss Alan Curbishley to the punch and, during talks at the club's Darsley Park training headquarters on Tuesday afternoon, persuaded him he could fulfil his potential at Newcastle.
With agent Willie McKay conducting negotiations with chairman Freddy Shepherd down the road at St James' Park, the player headed off for a medical and was then ready to return home to mull over the offer.
However, it is understood he was so impressed with what he saw and heard that he turned around and went straight back to the stadium to sign a deal which is thought to amount to around £70,000 a week.
Barton's capture is likely to have a knock-on effect for the Hammers, who should now be able to complete their own move for Newcastle skipper Scott Parker.
That deal has been on ice for several days with Allardyce unwilling to sanction it until he had a ready-made replacement safely on board.
The new manager has only been back at his desk for two days following a short break, and has wasted little time in pushing ahead with his rebuilding plans.
Barton will arrive once again having to answer his critics after his training ground bust-up with City team-mate Ousmane Dabo, but with his pedigree in no doubt.
Allardyce will be confident of harnessing his temperament having managed the likes of El Hadji Diouf and Nicolas Anelka during his time at Bolton, and that will be important with the Magpies having found themselves in the headlines for the wrong reasons on too many occasions in recent years.
Mark Viduka has agreed in principle to join the club.
The 31-year-old is expected to hold talks with Newcastle later this week with the Hammers, Portsmouth and promoted Birmingham all monitoring his situation.
Boro are also thought to be among those clubs to have registered an interest in Barton after his departure from Eastlands became inevitable.
The Teessiders, however, will be more disappointed at the potential loss of Viduka, although perhaps not surprised after seeing him presented with a series of options as his three-year contract ran down.
Allardyce's predecessor Glenn Roeder twice tried to sign the Australia international last season, and although manager Gareth Southgate remained hopeful of securing his services beyond the confines of his existing deal, he knew he could live to regret not tying him up before he was allowed to talk to other clubs.
Viduka's 19 goals last season were a major factor in Boro's successful fight to drag themselves away from the drop zone, and in all, he found the back of the net on 42 occasions in 100 appearances following his £4.5million move from Leeds in July, 2004.
His capture would see Newcastle replace the physical presence and hold-up play they lost with Alan Shearer's retirement last summer, and while there has been speculation over the futures of Michael Owen and Obafemi Martins, Allardyce would be more than happy to go into the new campaign with that trio and the fit-again Shola Ameobi competing to lead the line.
With out-of-contract Bolton defender Tal Ben Haim and Paris St Germain's Czech international defender David Rozehnal also in his sights, the manager is intent on making an early impact.
His transfer dealings are being carried out against the backdrop of the battle for control in the club's boardroom with Shepherd still at the helm despite his health problems.
However, would-be owner Mike Ashley is expected to formalise his 100p-per-share offer to the club's shareholders later this week.
The offer document is due to be sent out within days with Ashley hoping to clinch a complete £133.1million buy-out having already acquired a 41.6% stake at a cost of £55million. -
Newcastle tie up deal for £5.5m Barton
Joey Barton became Sam Allardyce's first signing when Newcastle United sealed a £5.5m deal for the Manchester City midfielder. Last night he completed a medical on Tyneside and opted to head to the north-east rather than follow up West Ham United's interest. He signed a five-year deal, believed to be worth £70,000 a week in wages, and should soon be joined at St James' by the Middlesbrough striker Mark Viduka.
West Ham still harboured faint hopes of hijacking the deal last night but Newcastle remained confident that they would not be gazumped at the end of a day that began with Viduka, out of contract at Middlesbrough, assuring Allardyce that he had decided "in principle" to swap Teesside for Tyneside.
The deal will not be formalised until the Australian international's return to England from holiday abroad but sources close to him insisted yesterday that he would "definitely not" change his mind despite being coveted by Birmingham City, Portsmouth, West Ham and the Italian club Genoa. -
Wow his salary so high, $70k per week... wait if he has to spend some months in jail this season and still get paid sitting in a cell...
Newcastle always buy this kind of players... Duff lah, Owen lah... Kieron Dyer, Emre, Luque... all sign with high salary and some big transfer fee but spend most of their time on the treatment table... 
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Its really sad there is a 'losing' mentality in a big club such as Newcastle. If that 'culture' is changed and restructured, Newcastle will become a force to be reckoned with. Too bad it hasn't been that way for the past many years.
We see how Big Sam is going to deal with this, somemore with the addition of Barton, I wonder how is he going to seperate the on fields from the off fields. -
Here comes the physical plays again.
Cheers.
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Hopefully Barton would be a better person at St. James' Park.
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So Barton will be the Kevin Davies of Newcastle next season?
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if newcastle haf a better coach..i m sure they r better den tottenham..if they r injury free...they r also a threat to the big 4!! EPL getting more excited nxt season..all clubs with so much $ to spend..
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they need to sack the chairman !
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Bad boy Barton joining the Magpies? I hope he learns to be good. He's given enough trouble at Eastlands over the past few seasons.
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wdf?! look at how much his earning! i don think he is worth that much
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his younger brother, at an age of 17, killed a black guy for fun due to racism.
their whole family is screwed up. -
even though he got disciplinary probs but he's still the perfect replacement for parker
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IIRC, another of his relatives was also charged.Originally posted by =)):his younger brother, at an age of 17, killed a black guy for fun due to racism.
their whole family is screwed up.