By Jebediah
July 19 2005

Jebediah’s roundup of Mondays tabloid newspapers, and a look at the stories and rumours involving Newcastle United.

The main news being carried in the tabloids today is about Newcastle's route to the UEFA cup.

With the draw being made yesterday, if Newcastle overcome Dubnica, the Toon will then face Deportivo La Coruna, and potentially Lazio or Marseille in the final. Souness and Shepherd both refused to think ahead of Sundays game with Souness saying he "is paying no attention to the draw."

One plus side of the draw is that the Magpies have managed to avoid a potential clash with Valencia, the bookies favourites to be one of the winners. This years InterToto cup has some fairly big European names in it, and if Newcastle are to progress in to the UEFA Cup (the prize for being one of three winners) they will have to treat the tournament as any other big competition - seriously.

On to transfer talk from the papers, reports that Emre has flown to the North East for a medical are being carried in most of the papers. The transfer has been dragging on for weeks now, and many fans thought that the deal had hit a snag and would not end up being completed. However, it appears that finally Graeme Souness has got his man, and Emre will complete his move this morning. The fee being mentioned is £4m. The coup will delight many Newcastle fans who were feeling worried by a lack of signings so far this summer, with the only other arrival being Scott Parker.

With these two midfielders arriving, some people and the media especially are questioning whether Jermaine Jenas' future lies on Tyneside. However this morning Graeme Souness has reiterated that Jenas will not be sold. Souness sees him as a big part of his future plans, and with Jenas still only young there is every chance that he will improve. The manager said "As far as we are concerned, he is not for sale."

Finally, from The Star, Lee Bowyer will apparently not travel to Slovakia at the weekend. West Ham have joined Birmingham and Charlton in the race to sign the midfielder, and it appears that when a sufficient offer comes in the club will be prepared to let the tenacious midfielder go.