Manchester City set to come back in for Given

Jan 20 2009 by Luke Edwards, The Journal

NEWCASTLE United have braced themselves to receive a second bid from Manchester City for Shay Given as a disastrous transfer window continues for Joe Kinnear.

The Journal understands City are willing to pay as much as £8m for the goalkeeper, an offer United’s manager fears will be accepted by the board against his will.

That would force Kinnear – who hopes to be able to announce the signing of a new defender before the end of the week – to allow the Republic of Ireland international to leave, with little time to reinvest the money they receive, before the transfer window shuts.

Although Given is an iconic figure at Newcastle and has been the club’s most consistent performer in recent years, the reality is everyone has their price and £8m for a player who will be 33 in April is difficult to dismiss, particularly when that player has already expressed a desire to leave.

City are proving to be resilient hunters. Having initially failed in an attempt to force West Ham to sell former Newcastle striker Craig Bellamy, they finally signed the Welsh international for £14m yesterday after he refused to play for the Hammers at the weekend.

The world’s richest club had a £3m offer for Given turned down by Newcastle earlier this month and Kinnear had hoped that would be the end of the matter, but City are poised to return with a much improved package.

To make matters worse for the Magpies, it is far from certain Given’s excellent deputy Steve Harper will remain at St James’s Park following a £500,000 bid from Tottenham Hotspur.

Newcastle rejected that offer over the weekend, but Harper is also disillusioned by the club’s plight this season and could be tempted to move on.

Tellingly, although the 33-year-old was offered a new contract before Christmas, he has still not signed it and could agree to move to White Hart Lane on a Bosman-style free transfer at the end of the season. Although that would mean Newcastle are covered until the end of the season, it would be a disaster if both keepers left within the space of a few months.

The goalkeeping position has been Newcastle’s strongest for more than a decade. Given and Harper have consistently been described as the best pair of goalkeepers in the Premier League by a succession of United managers, but Kinnear could start next season with Tim Krul as his first choice.

The 20-year-old, who has also spent time on loan at Falkirk in the Scottish Premier League, is currently on loan at Coca-Cola League One club Carlisle United, but would be instantly recalled should the Given deal go through. Although

United’s supporters turned on Kinnear for the first time during the 3-0 defeat at Blackburn Rovers, the 62-year-old has been offered a two-year extension to his contract, which expires at the end of the season.

Although the club are confident Kinnear will sign that deal in the near future, the Newcastle boss is not happy with the progress being made in the transfer market and has warned – as Kevin Keegan did before him – that he will leave if he does not get assurances about his control of first-team recruitment.

However, there are some who believe the new contract offer to Kinnear is a cynical attempt to ensure the manager is ‘on message’ in terms of their success in the transfer market this month.

As it stands, although a new defender could be in place in the next 48 hours, Kinnear’s only other option so far has been Danish international Peter Løvenkrands.

A decision on the forward, who is a free agent following the termination of his contract at Bundesliga outfit Schalke, will be made after a specially-arranged trial match against Carlisle today.

Meanwhile, reports that former Nottingham Forest manager Colin Calderwood is set to become a member of the Newcastle coaching staff were denied by the club last night.