[kennethlindheim]

Sam Allardyce is hopeful Newcastle United are finally close to securing the signature of Joey Barton.

Newcastle have agreed a deal with Manchester City for the midfielder, but the move has hit a snag due to a wrangle over a pay-off.

Barton is demanding a £300,000 sum as part of a clause in his contract, but City do not feel the figure should be paid.

Allardyce is continuing his efforts to recruit new faces and is optimistic that Barton will soon be confirmed as a Magpies player.

"I'm not quite sure yet," Allardyce told Sky Sports News when asked when the transfer would be completed.

"Joey has gone on holiday, but I hope to try and tie it off today and finally make sure he is going to be a Newcastle player for next year.

"We have got Mark Viduka and this week we have been trying hard, but we haven't pulled anything off yet.

"I need to concentrate on defenders, we're very short in that area, so we will try and strengthen that department.

"I'd like to bring in at least a couple of centre-halves, a left-back and maybe a right-back to have enough players defensively minded to improve the Newcastle clean sheet record.

"That's going to be very important. We've got goalscorers at the other end, but we must sort out the defensive side of the team to make sure when we score goals we get the three points."

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