Roeder: Duff deal 'very, very close'

Newcastle manager Glenn Roeder insists his club are “very, very close” to wrapping up the signing of Damien Duff from Chelsea.

The Republic of Ireland winger is poised to sign for the Magpies in a deal believed to be worth £10m (€14.65m), with a fee and personal terms agreed and a medical the last detail left to be resolved.

“We’re very, very close, he has just got to get through his medical,” Roeder told Setanta Sports 2. “We’re not expecting any problems and it’s just a question of getting the OK from our doctor and then it will be rubber-stamped.

“I can’t tell you how pleased I am about getting a player of that quality. I would think it will excite our fans as well.

“I played for Newcastle – admittedly a long time ago – but we had the likes of Chrissy Waddle playing in that team that I played in and (the fans) love ball-players who can go past players and get crosses in and Damien is that type of player.”

Roeder, who revealed Duff had been given “rave reviews” from international team-mates Shay Given and Stephen Carr as well as former Chelsea colleague Scott Parker, hopes the imminent capture of Duff will only be the start of a busy summer of transfer activity at St James’ Park.

“You can only do one (transfer) at a time, let’s get Damien into the club first and hopefully that will be done by Monday afternoon for sure, then we can start talking about the next player,” he said.

“But we’ve got a list of players now that we want to start working our way through.”