Barcelona option for left back Jose Enrique

Speaking to North East England regional newspaper Sunday Sun, Newcastle United left back defender José Enrique Sánchez (23) has said that he doesn't plan to leave the English club:

"All the time I read in the papers that I will go here or there, but I'm happy here. I want to get this club back into the Premier League because I think we can get back there.

I listen to talk about a lot of players coming and going but I want to stay. Everything here is great, except we now play in the Championship! I was happy at Villarreal but I preferred to sign for Newcastle. They offered me a better contract and there were many famous names here, Michael Owen, Oba Martins and others.

I thought I would be playing Champions League football here, now I play in the Championship. It's strange! But I like to think I can still play in the Champions League one day with Newcastle. Yes, I'm like any other player: if Barcelona came for me, of course I would want to go.

In reality though, I want to play for Newcastle, and I know that if I want to play in the Champions League, we'll have to get back to the Premier League. Of course, we have to get out of the Championship first, and the teams in this division play a different type of football.

The Premier League is a harder challenge, but this is a different challenge. There are more quick balls played straight up to the strikers. It's similar to the Premier League in some ways, but with worse players. We have a similar team here to last year, and our players are better than other players in the Championship, so I think we can get promoted."

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Rijkaard rejects Newcastle approach

North East England regional newspaper Sunday Sun claims that former Barcelona manager Frank Rijkaard (45) has been approached in the last week about becoming the successor to Kevin Keegan as Newcastle United manager.

Believing that Rijkaard, who left Barcelona at the end of last season, was looking for a coaching job in England or Italy, a United director, thought to be Tony Jimenez, made contact with him through a third party. But Rijkaard refused even to meet the Newcastle board to discuss a deal.

A close friend of Rijkaard is quoted as saying that the Dutchman is not planning for a quick return to the bench: "Frank says he is enjoying what he calls 'a calm life' after five years at Barca. He is dividing his time between Barcelona and Amsterdam, and not even doing much media work. He wants to wait until next season before seriously looking to return to football."

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Newcastle held first talks on Deco

North East England regional newspaper Sunday Sun claims that Newcastle United is preparing a 20 million euro° bid for Barcelona midfielder Deco (30). In the past weeks Newcastle officials would have held a positive meeting with Jorge Mendes, the agent of the Brazilian-born Portuguese international, who has made clear that Barcelona could be willing to talk about a transfer.

Newcastle, who has been wrongly linked with Deco in the past, would offer Deco the same week salary as their striker Michael Owen: 125 000 euro*. Chelsea and Tottenham, who could offer the player European football next season, are also said to be interested in the Portuguese. But with Tottenham not able to match the Newcastle salary offer and with Chelsea uncertain about their manager and therefore not be able to sign important players early in the summer, Newcastle is confident to bring Deco to Newcastle.

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