Barton, Enrique and the goalkeeping dilemma

April 27th, 2011 | 13 Comments |

The summer will be interesting in many respects for Newcastle United, not least to see who leaves the club and who comes in. However, if the recent comments of a ‘source close to Joey’ are anything to go by, Joey Barton won’t be one of the leavers.

“Joey wants to stay at Newcastle because he is happy here.

“He may be opinionated at times, but he hasn’t forgotten what Newcastle did for him during his time at the club, and he’s got a lot of respect for all of the staff there, from the manager down.

“There has been talk that he was ready to quit the club, but that couldn’t be further from the truth.

“His main priority is to stay here – and always has been.

“Joey has got a great rapport with the Newcastle fans who obviously appreciate his efforts on the pitch, and he wants that relationship to continue.”

Of course a ‘source close to Joey’ could be his cat for all we know but I do tend to think that he wants to stay at Newcastle. No doubt Ashley will want to reduce his wages but if it isn’t to an insulting level then, personally, I’d expect him to be lining up in black and white next season despite alleged interest in the player from Hamburg and despite the fact the club failed to get him on a new contract in January. (more…)