NEWCASTLE are confident of finding a Premier League club to finish Joey Barton’s St James’s Park career for them.
The 26-year-old midfielder was yesterday suspended by the Magpies until further notice. And although United were unwilling to comment on the record beyond the terse statement released to announce the fact, The Journal understands the punishment is for more than simply Barton’s weekend red card.
The patience of manager Alan Shearer and others higher up the United hierarchy has snapped with an individual who has wasted yet another "second" chance. The mood is very much to bring Barton’s controversy-strewn Newcastle career to a close as quickly as possible.
But with three years left on his contract and terminating it an expensive option few football clubs are even willing to consider, the obvious question is who would buy Barton. His talent is unquestionable but the baggage which comes with him is immense. Injuries and suspension have limited him to just six Premier League starts this season.
The Magpies, though, have had enquiries for the player and are confident of finding a buyer in the summer. Bolton Wanderers and Portsmouth were both interested in signing Barton last August amid the fall-out from his imprisonment for assaulting Ousmane Dabo, one of his Manchester City team-mates at the time, in training.
At the start of last season Pompey were managed by Tony Adams, who set up the Sporting Chance clinic Barton was attending on his release, and a man with a passion for rehabilitating troubled footballers, as he once was. Now Adams has left Fratton Park, to be replaced by Paul Hart, it remains to be seen if the south coast club will show any further interest.
Blackburn Rovers could be another alternative, however. Sam Allardyce was the man who brought Barton to Tyneside two years ago and could be the man to take him away again. Having inherited a struggling side shortly before Christmas and, it would appear, saved them from relegation, Allardyce will be looking to reshape his midfield. At present Rovers are overly-reliant on Tugay – the Premier League’s oldest outfield player – and David Dunn – one of its most injury- prone. The January signing of El-Hadji Diouf from Sunderland shows Allardyce has lost none of his appetite for trying to reform potential trouble-makers either.
