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Keegan expects to add new faces before transfer deadline

30/08/2008

Newcastle United manager Kevin Keegan expects to sign three or four new players before the transfer window closes on Monday night.

The Magpies sold midfielder James Milner to Aston Villa yesterday, a player some fans were sorry to see leave, but Keegan has assured them he will be replaced.

Keegan also said he was determined to only add players who he felt were quality investments, claiming that he was being offered all sorts of players currently who he felt did not match the club's requirements.

He said: "The money [from Milner's transfer] will be available to me. But the money was there to buy players even if we did not sell James Milner.

"We're looking for three or four to bring in and I think we'll get them. We have four or five irons in the fire with two of them quite far down the line."

One player who could be joining is former Tottenham Hotspur full-back Timothee Atouba. His current club Hamburg expected him to travel to Tyneside yesterday for a medical but were surprised when the Cameroonian arrived for training.

Keegan is delighted with the financial commitment owner Mike Ashley has made to him but insists he will not waste the money that is available to him.

He said: "Mike Ashley can only give us the finance, we have to get the right players in. It's now a case of getting that quality in before Monday.

"If you're going to let players go you have to make sure you replace them with quality. No-one will argue that the ones we've got in so far are quality."

Keegan has been looking to bolster both full-back positions this summer and will also need to replace Milner by Monday.