Viduka Happy To Make Martins Suffer

Last updated : 09 July 2007 By Footy Mad - Editor

Allardyce has held one-on-one talks with the Nigerian international at the club's training base in Austria and has told the 22-year-old that he wants him to stay next season. And STILL he won't commit to the Newcastle cause.

Allardyce knows that he can do nothing to prevent the former Inter Milan star from leaving if a club activates the release clause in his contract by making a £13m bid.

While that would be a blow to United's new manager, the size of the fee would represent a £3m profit for the club on the £10m they paid to bring him over from Italy and would give Allardyce enough money to sign a suitable replacement.

Meanwhile, Mark Viduka is completely writing Martins out of the script, saying he hopes to show Michael Owen why he should stay at Newcastle by forming a potent partnership with the England striker.

While Owen is in Austria with the rest of the United first-team squad for a training camp, Viduka is playing for Australia in the Asian Cup and will not link up with his new team-mates until next month.

But Viduka has already backed the comments of former Toon striker Mark McGhee, suggesting Newcastle could set the Premiership alight with arguably the best pairing since Alan Shearer and Les Ferdinand.

Viduka: "I hope I can establish a good partnership with Michael Owen. I've always admired his ability and I think we can complement each other because we are different types of players.

"There are massive expectation levels, butI will probably have to deal with that when it comes. There is always big expectation, because Newcastle are a massive club and want to do well - and I want to do well there. We will cross that bridge when we come to it."