 STEVEN TAYLOR has pledged to come back a stronger and better player for Newcastle United next season. The 22-year-old defender is just starting his first break from football for three years – and he aims to make the most of it. And despite the fact there seems to be little progress on his contract talks with United, the England Under-21 skipper is still upbeat about next season at St James’s Park. Both Taylor and his United colleague James Milner have been in action for their country in the past two summers, but Under-21 coach Stuart Pearce has given them the close season off. This will give Milner the chance to ensure his foot injury is 100% recovered, while Taylor has been carrying an ankle injury recently. Taylor told me today: “Last summer I had a week off, and then I was back into pre-season. “It’ll be nice to get six weeks off. There’s no football over the summer, so I can relax. I can come back fresh and ready for next season. “You get little niggles. You can carry on, but unfortunately for me, I got my ankle injury at the start of the season.” Taylor’s longest spell out injured came after he dislocated his shoulder while on international duty. He added: “The shoulder’s OK. I always seem to fall on that side now. “I’ve got to keep working on it, and for the rest of my career I’ll be doing that.” Taylor’s agent Leon Angel met United vice president Tony Jimenez for talks in London last Friday, but neither party have commented on the outcome. But Taylor and his financial advisors must know deep down that this is a bad time to be negotiating a new contract at St James’s, with owner Mike Ashley determined to reduce the wage bill. Details of wages of all United players who are earning over £50,000 a week were leaked last weekend, but Taylor is currently only on a fraction of this. And it remains to be seen whether the fact the Premier League official statistics made him United’s best defender, and the Actim Index placed him second to Michael Owen as the best player in a black-and-white shirt, make any difference. What should make a difference is the fact that Peter Ramage has joined Queens Park Rangers and Lamine Diatta has not been retained, so United may well be on the look-out for new central defenders. They seem to be in short supply, as Sunderland are going to find out to their cost. For Johnny Evans, who has been on loan at the Stadium of Light, will be back at Old Trafford next season because Sir Alex Ferguson is losing Gerard Pique to Barcelona after Wednesday’s Champions League final with Chelsea in Moscow. However, Steven Taylor will be more than interested in the fact that there is a good chance his namesake Peter Taylor will be arriving at St James’s Park, possibly as director of the Academy. For the United defender has played under Taylor for the England Under-21 side. Says Peter Taylor: “Dennis Wise rang me for a general chat a couple of weeks ago and then we had another talk on Wednesday.” | 
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