Diatta must prove his worth in transfer deal

Mar 7 2008 by Luke Edwards, The Journal

SENEGAL international Lamine Diatta will look to secure a long-term contract at Newcastle United after he finally agreed to the club’s offer of a deal until the end of the season last night.

Diatta was offered a short-term contract by United manager Kevin Keegan on Tuesday but, despite passing a medical, had initially turned down the terms of the deal following more than five hours of talks.

That led to reports yesterday claiming the transfer had collapsed, but it was revived last night when the 32-year-old agreed to the proposal that he will be offered a longer deal if he manages to impress between now and May.

Given the number of mistakes made by Newcastle in the transfer market when it comes to signing foreign players in recent years, that would appear to have been the most sensible option for the club to take, and it is now up to the player to prove he has something to offer beyond the end of this campaign.

The right-back, who played for Toulouse, Marseille, Rennes, Lyon and Saint-Etienne in France, bought out his contract at Turkish club Besiktas so that he could pursue a career in the Premier League and has impressed Keegan in training.

With Stephen Carr sidelined with another hamstring strain, Newcastle are light on numbers in defence and Keegan felt Diatta had the ability to add something to the squad.

Diatta is unlikely to be considered for selection for the trip to Anfield this weekend as he is short of match fitness, but Steven Taylor will be involved against Liverpool.

Taylor had angered senior officials at St James’s Park this week with comments criticising them for the lack of progress over a new contract. The England Under-21 international appeared to be trying to put pressure on the board to yield to his wage demands – which are believed to be more than £40,000 a week.

The 21-year-old’s present deal runs out at the end of next season, but his tough stance about signing a new contract appeared to have weakened yesterday when he insisted he had no desire to ever leave the club he has been with since the age of nine. He said: “I am 100% committed to Newcastle United and don’t see

myself playing for any other football club. “This is where I want to play my football. I’m happy here, and working with Kevin Keegan is fantastic. I used to watch Keegan’s teams play from the stands with my dad and it’s a dream come true to play for him.”

Meanwhile, Michael Owen will return to Liverpool tomorrow with a ringing endorsement of his goalscoring prowess from Newcastle coach Terry McDermott.

Owen missed several clear cut opportunities in the 1-0 home defeat by Blackburn Rovers last weekend but McDermott believes that, although the striker was hurt at failing to convert his chances, he will be more relieved at the fact he is finally getting some in a black-and-white shirt. The £17m signing from Real Madrid has finally begun to show glimpses of his best form this season and the ex-Liverpool hero will lead Newcastle out at Anfield on Saturday as the team go in search of a first league win since December 15.

“I’ve never known Michael Owen have a game like that before and it must have felt weird for him to have had so many chances and to have not scored with any of them,” said McDermott, who also spent eight years at Anfield as a player. “I can’t remember that sort of thing happening to him in the past, but the pleasing thing for him and us is that we created those chances for him.

“There have been games this season when Michael has been lucky to get one chance in a game. He had three or four against Blackburn. In a normal situation Michael would have had a hat-trick, but that’s the way our luck is at the moment.

“We created the chances though and you know with Michael that, if you create those chances in another game, he will score them, there’s no doubt about that in our mind or his.”