Keegan seeks world stars to fire up United

Feb 8 2008 by Luke Edwards, The Journal

KEVIN Keegan will once again look to stun the rest of the Premier League in the transfer market as he insisted he will find the players to reignite Newcastle United.

Keegan is aware of those who doubt he will be able to re-establish the Magpies as one of European football’s elite after 11 years away from Tyneside but, typically, he refused to allow anyone to put a limit on his ambition.

With the present set of players effectively on trial until the end of the season, Keegan is adamant he will be looking to sprinkle some much needed stardust on the squad when he finally gets to operate in the transfer market in the summer.

“We’d like to fetch in three or four players who can set the other players alight that we’ve already got here,” said Keegan, who revealed his dream transfer target would be Barcelona striker Thierry Henry. “I’d like to bring players here that amaze people. Not just talk about being a big club, but show we are by our actions and the players who we bring here.

“You do that by building up a trust with the people who provide the finance, getting the right players at the right price, that builds up trust and then others will come. It’s easy to get players to a club when it is flying in the right direction.

“Why rule it out? People limit themselves, but “we can’t” isn’t an answer. We got people others didn’t think we could last time. Can we do it again? If we can get this club moving in the right direction we’ve certainly got the owner to provide the money to get those players.”

Keegan added: “I want to strengthen all areas of the team. We tried to hijack the Jonathan Woodgate deal to Tottenham and we’re looking for some leaders, because you can’t have enough of them.

“A defender who can defend, but who is also

comfortable with the ball. We want some creativity, we’ve got some genuine players who can pass the ball and will pass the ball better when they are confident, but in terms of opening teams up, we’re probably a little bit limited. Emre is the only one.”

Nevertheless, while United’s manager cannot ignore the rebuilding project he needs to embark on at the end of the season, he also admitted he is wary of being dragged into a relegation battle following the team’s slide down the table.

Newcastle have taken just three points from the last 24 and, with an away trip to high-flying Aston Villa at the weekend followed by the arrival of Manchester United to St James’s Park next week, Keegan admitted his side are in danger of being dragged into trouble.

“The one word we didn’t use last time when we came up was that we’ve got to consolidate, but that’s a bit different this time,” said Keegan.

“First of all we have to get enough points to be safe, that’s the first priority and we’ve got tough fixtures, I knew that when I took over.

“We’re just on the edge of it and we’ve got to make sure we don’t get to sucked into it.”

And, although, he believes Mike Ashley could prove to be one of English football’s most generous benefactors, he has urged the club’s owners to realise the size of the task ahead of them.

“We should be fifth or sixth in the Premier League if you look at crowds and finance, it’s us and Tottenham, but it’s about much more than that in football,” said Keegan, who was answering questions from fans on a talk-in on BBC Radio Newcastle last night.

“We’ve got most of the things that other football clubs only dream about, the stadium, the fans and that annoys people, but it’s not a level playing field anymore.

“Some of those clubs have really kicked on to the detriment of the others. Consider Tottenham, look at their spending and the number of players they’ve brought in and shipped out to try and bridge that gap (with the big four) and it tells you something about where we have to go.

“But he (Ashley) will be the best owner in the world if we can convince him we’re going down the right track and we need something to take us to the next stage.”