Toon Midfielder's Bust Up In Restaurant
Last updated : 25 June 2007 By Footy Mad - Editor
His old club have joined Bayern Munich in the chase, and some felt Sam Allardyce's move to bring in Barton ... and another midfielder on the way ... could end Emre's time on Tyneside.
Galatasaray, where he rose to prominence as a teenager before moving to Inter Milan in the summer of 2001, had shown an interest in taking the playmaker back to Istanbul.
Emre: "I am very happy in England and I'm not thinking of leaving this club. I know that all Turkish newspapers will write my name on the headlines during transfer window. But even though I got serious offers from Fenerbahce and Galatasaray, I want to continue my career in England.
"The Premier League is very famous all over the world and that is why I preferred to move there. I will stay in Newcastle and I have great respect for new coach Sam Allardyce."
Emre, a £3.8m signing from Inter Milan in July 2005, is currently back in Turkey on holiday with former Inter and Galatasaray team-mate Okan.
His stay in Turkey has also had its share of controversy, after exchanging words with Fenerbahce president Aziz Yildirim in an Istanbul restaurant.
Yildirim accused Emre of persuading new Middlesbrough signing Tuncay Sanli to turn down the offer of a new contract - worth around £2m a year - at Fener in favour of making a more lucrative switch to Teesside.