Dyer in demand so Robson urges chairman to send clubs packing

KIERON DYER is a man in demand.

Whether or not big-spending Chelsea sugar daddy Roman Abramovich or Alex Ferguson do come calling, Sir Bobby Robson will urge his chairman Freddy Shepherd to send them packing.

Shepherd, no doubt to his manager’s immense relief, yesterday insisted that the 24-year-old England midfielder is not for sale, although he did admit that he would have to consider a ‘ridiculous’ offer if it were to land on his desk.

That has not yet happened, despite claims to the contrary, and Chelsea chairman Ken Bates, like Shepherd, in Malaysia for the FA Premier League Asia Cup, has denied that his club have made a bid while Ferguson has indicated that he has no immediate spending plans after missing out on Brazilian Ronaldinho.

“Kieron Dyer isn’t for sale,” Shepherd said yesterday from Kuala Lumpur as the speculation mounted at home. “I don’t think even Ken has enough roubles to buy Dyer.

“Bobby Robson is probably the best manager in the Premier League and we will support him all the way, so we aren’t selling Kieron Dyer.

“If we got a ridiculous bid, any club in the Premiership would sell him for that. But we don’t want to sell him and have no intention of selling him.”

Shepherd denied that Newcastle had placed a £25million price tag on Dyer’s head as the story gathered pace earlier this week, although they privately did make it known that it would take such a bid to even force them to consider selling the player.

In effect, what they did was fire a warning shot across the bows of potential bidders to let them know that they had little or no intention of parting company with Dyer.

It is no coincidence that the figure is the same as Real Madrid had to pay Manchester United to secure the services of David Beckham, currently world football’s most marketable commodity.

Some observers interpreted that as a willingness to sell, but insiders are adamant that it was an attempt to illustrate graphically just the opposite.

It is not the first time Dyer’s future has been the subject of intense speculation since his £6million move to St James’ Park in July 1999.

Newcastle pounced then as others dallied, and despite injury problems since, the consensus is that a fee which was considered steep at the time now looks a bargain.