KEVIN KEEGAN will step up his search for the two defenders he desperately needs before Newcastle United fly out to Majorca a week today.
United continue to be linked with midfield men and strikers, and recruitment duo Dennis Wise and Tony Jimenez may well be beavering away on this score.
United were once again linked today with a move for Celtic winger Aiden McGeady – a name which has been going the rounds all summer as far as Newcastle are concerned.
Reports coming out of London say United are ready to offer Charles N’Zogbia plus £5m to Celtic for McGeady, who only signed a five-year contract at Parkhead at the weekend.
But Keegan knows where his priorities lie, and he is hoping to have a left-back and a central defender before next week’s flight to Palma.
He admitted to me at Everton on the last day of the season that he needed a left-back as cover for Jose Enrique.
And since the Spaniard returned for pre-season having lost a bit too much weight, and a bit of strength in his upper body, this need has increased.
Blackburn Rovers manager Paul Ince insists there has been no increase on United’s £3m bid for his left-back Stephen Warnock.
Another left-back, Vasilis Torosidis of Olympiakos, is the latest of a long line of players who have said in the close season that Newcastle United want them.
But the Greek defender is clearly spreading his bets by saying he could also go to Blackburn Rovers or Atletico Madrid.
If a left-back is a priority, Keegan feels that he also needs another central defender, having lost Peter Ramage to Queens Park Rangers and with word that Wise and Jimenez are looking to cash in on David Edgar.
The big plus on this score for Keegan is that the club have finally tied up Steven Taylor on a long-term contract, but the England Under-21 skipper only has Abdoulaye Faye and Claudio Cacapa as his experienced central defensive colleagues at St James’s Park at the moment.
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