Blues after bad boy Barton

Birmingham boss Alex McLeish is offering to pay £25,000 a week to Newcastle to take Joey Barton on loan for the season.

The package will be considered by the Toon outfit once they have a new owner and manager, but it is still less than half of what Barton earns.

So, if McLeish gets the nod to take on the fiery midfielder for the Blues’ return to the top flight, it will mean that relegated Newcastle must still pick up around £2million of his salary.

Birmingham have short-listed Barton along with Rangers and Scotland star Barry Ferguson and even Patrick Vieira as possibles for their midfield leader role.

The St Andrews club would be happy to take on Barton for a year at the cost of around £1.3m, but do not want to buy him.

Barton is quite happy to stay on Tyneside but could be forced out if Alan Shearer, or any other manager, refuses to play him.

The Barton problem is just one of many at Newcastle where a handful of players are fancied on loan by rival clubs, like Kevin Nolan, who need Toon to ‘sponsor’ those deals because of the size of the salaries.