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.