Magpies set to continue spending spree after Duff scoop

Newcastle will today show off new signing Damien Duff and intend to announce more transfer market coups before the start of the season.

Manager Glenn Roeder has “a list of players” he would like to bring to St James’ Park and could reveal details of his progress at the stadium this afternoon.

Duff has joined Newcastle after winning two Premiership titles with Chelsea in back-to-back seasons, and has signed a five-year contract.

The Republic of Ireland winger is one of the players Newcastle intend to build their future around, but they are looking to strengthen in other departments too, and a striker is a priority after Alan Shearer’s retirement and Michael Owen’s serious knee injury.

Shola Ameobi’s two goals against Lillestrom in the UEFA Cup qualifier on Saturday showed that he is capable of contributing, while Duff also has a decent scoring record.

But players such as West Ham’s Dean Ashton have been linked with Newcastle during the summer and with the signing of Duff guaranteeing top-class delivery from the flanks, Roeder is likely to want an established finisher on board for when the league campaign starts in four weeks’ time.

He was reluctant to discuss signings after Saturday’s match in Norway, preferring to leave such issues for today’s press conference when Duff – who is understood to have cost a fee in the region of £10m (€14.6m) – will speak for the first time about becoming a Newcastle player.

“Then we can start talking about the next player,” said Roeder. “But we’ve got a list of players now that we want to start working our way through.”

Newcastle beat Tottenham to the signature of Duff, who spent three seasons at Chelsea but may have feared being squeezed out of the first team in the coming season due to the limited number of first-team places and the swelling numbers of midfielders in Jose Mourinho’s squad – Michael Ballack having become the latest recruit.

He has been bought to inject pace, invention and quality into the Magpies’ midfield, the sort they have been lacking of late.

Newcastle have had numerous entertainers in their team over recent decades though, and Roeder believes Duff is a player who will excite supporters.

Roeder told Setanta Sports 2: “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.”