From the BBC

Newcastle's Kieron Dyer is reported to be seeking a new contract worth up to £95,000 a week. The England midfielder is said to want to parity with top earners such as Manchester United's Roy Keane, who recently signed a four-year, £90,000-a-week deal.

Another Old Trafford star, England skipper David Beckham, is currently negotiating a possibly even more lucrative agreement.

According to the Daily Express, those are the kind of benchmark deals Dyer is aiming to match.

The 21-year-old has been hit by a series of injuries this season but is now on course to be part of England's squad for the World Cup finals in Korea and Japan.

He joined Newcastle from Ipswich Town in 1999 for £6m on a starting salary of around £12,000 a week.

That has since risen to around £20,000, while he is now thought to worth as much as £24m.

If he plays his part in a successful World Cup campaign, that valuation could rise even further.

However, it remains to be seen whether Newcastle are either willing or able to offer Dyer a weekly wage appoaching £100,000.

If they decide not to, the club may have to sell their most prized asset before his current contract, which still has two years to run, nears expiry.

-- Anonymous, March 05, 2002

Answers

Absolutely Preposterous

-- Anonymous, March 05, 2002

If that is true, and I hope it's not, then we would have no alternative. Should he have a good World Cup he would be worth close to 30 million. Then would be the time to sell. We could pay 6 Marcelinos for that

-- Anonymous, March 05, 2002

I suspect this is another press windup a la Phillips to Toon story. If it's not then Dyer and his agent are complete idiots. It is laughable that any player would start making such demands when they've spent most of the season injured. His place at the world cup is not guaranteed and to want the same kind of deal as Beckham is arrogant in the extreme. Is Dyer England captain, is he an England regular, has he won anything? He has not even been a regular for NUFC FFS!

Talk of selling is also ridiculous - no club would pay those wages and a fee like we would ask for , for a player with his injury history. He has form and fitness to prove.

If this is true - it's a kick in the teeth to NUFC supporters who are just waiting for him to get fit and get back in our team.

-- Anonymous, March 05, 2002

More on this on 'News Now'. On some Spurs web site they've managed to make it into a spurs and Man U battle for Dyer. LMFAO! Spurs! One, do they think THEY could afford him and two, why the hell would he go there?

Always knew Spurs had a high opinion of themselves.

-- Anonymous, March 05, 2002

No need to get excited at this stage in the proceedings. An opening bid may have been made by Dyer's agent - I doubt if it was that much. Beckham's deal is "only" £70k per week and the subsequent negotiations are about his merchandising rights or something which would take him over £90k.

Tottenham couldn't afford to keep Sol at WHL so they are unlikely to pay that for Dyer. Man Utd as I say have offered £70k to Beckham. My guess is that Dyer is going to be worth between £50k-£60k which a club with the Toon's revenue can meet.

-- Anonymous, March 05, 2002

Then Shearer will, insist on being payed at least that and all hell breaks loose as players start making unreeasonable demands. If he has asked for that much then id say sell the ungratefull tw@t. And ill go and follow whitley bay :-(

-- Anonymous, March 05, 2002

I think Jonno's right: Dyer's agent is probably going in with a ludicrous price in the expectation of getting less or of us refusing and Dyer getting a transfer without looking like asking for one.

The club will have to be careful how they manage this because Bellamy is worth as much per week as Dyer by any standards and once you give Dyer a big pay rise, you are inviting mayhem, with each of the players who have played significant parts this season demanding pay rises.

-- Anonymous, March 05, 2002

It's just a media reflex. We lost to arse at the weekend and everybody expects us to get stuffed by Liverpool tomorrow, therefore the bubble has burst ergo it's safe to start up again with the unsettling crap we had to put up with before we looked as if we couldn't be beaten.

It's only the status quo being restored.

Incoming, believe it when you see it. Outgoing, believe it when you see it.

In the meantime, let the daft bastards do their worst.

-- Anonymous, March 05, 2002

Christ on a bike. The papers make a story up and everyone is berating him and shouting SELL. This happened with the Leeds story and that was utter bollocks. Until it is reported by Bobby or NUFC then I will not comment on the levels his wages should be at. Roll on Wednesday as I need some football to watch!! AM

-- Anonymous, March 05, 2002

This is just media talk. Given the current financial state of football I can't see any club agreeing to these wages at the moment. Today's Guardian is talking about the introduction of a salary cap because of anticipated decline in television money. This could be a reason why Dyer and his agent are trying to open negotiations now in the knowledge that they'll get more money before the clubs start to examine the effects of future cuts in TV money. The agent is acting like any trade union does in demanding a huge salary increase in the knowledge that it won't be met.

-- Anonymous, March 05, 2002

I imagine this piece of tripe was penned by the great Harry Harris, the ex-Mirror reporter who since he joined the Express on a huge salary has been desperately trying to prove his worth with a series of "Exclusives" none of which has been true. Dyer will want a lot more money and has a good case to be the most highly paid member of the squad. He may even fancy moving on. But he is not on the same planet as Beckham either as a player or a celebrity asset.

-- Anonymous, March 05, 2002

I see the club are officially denying this.

-- Anonymous, March 05, 2002

The piece was indeed written by Harry No Brains - the man, you may recall, who wrote that absolute garbage about how the Jenas fee was being paid - a piece which totally ignored all the FA and League regulations and which was proven to be utter rubbish.

This is the same man who wrote that ridiculous book about Ruud Gullit's season at the Toon in which he claimed the Dutch Master had been treated abysmally by the club and would have led us to the World Cup given half a chance.

The man is an idiot. There are two alternative methods of dealing with the tripe he writes:

a) Read it - then assume that the exact opposite is true.

b) Wrap your chips in it.

-- Anonymous, March 05, 2002