Kluivert happy with number eleven shirt - for now

PATRICK Kluivert claims he will be happy to wear the number 11 shirt at Newcastle - but only until he can get his hands on Alan Shearer’s number nine.

The 28-year-old Dutch international signed a three-year deal at St James’s Park on Wednesday which will see him team up with the former England skipper for the last year of his (Shearer’s) playing career.

Kluivert will wear Gary Speed’s number following his £750,000 departure to Bolton. The newcomer has warned Craig Bellamy and Shola Ameobi - the other two men with whom he will compete for a place in the side - that he has designs on the shirt which has been worn by a succession of Geordie legends.