Bellamy prepared to sign long-term contract with Newcastle

The Newcastle striker Craig Bellamy is close to signing a lucrative new contract with the club despite his sending off in the Champions' League last week.

The 23-year-old Welshman is expected to complete negotiations, which have been ongoing for several months, on an improved long-term deal within the next few weeks.

United were not commenting officially yesterday on reports that Bellamy has already agreed terms and put pen to paper, but were privately insisting that there is still a little way to go before their discussions with the player are finalised.

The claims came just a day after the club's chairman, Freddy Shepherd, revealed that contract talks with the former Coventry frontman would resume in the New Year following their suspension last week.

Newcastle were furious with Bellamy's conduct in the 4-1 Champions' League defeat by Internazionale, when he was sent off after just five minutes.

A meeting between the Wales international, his advisors and the club scheduled for the following day was cancelled with officials insisting that the time was not right for such negotiations.

But his response on the field during the 2-1 Premiership win over Everton was just what Newcastle's manager, Sir Bobby Robson, was seeking.

"We all know that Geordies are fair-minded people and this proved to be the case on Sunday," Shepherd said yesterday. "I said before the game that I was rooting for Craig and it was clear that everyone else was too.

"Our view was that Craig had paid a very high price both financially and personally for what happened against Inter Milan, and that enough was enough. However, Craig was under tremendous pressure and he could not have worked harder or performed better. If Alan Shearer's equaliser raised the roof, then his winner took it off.

"Now we feel that Craig has turned the corner and everything is fine. I'm sure that these contract talks will resume in the near future."

Some supporters had grown weary with Bellamy's indiscipline following his three-match ban for head-butting Dynamo Kiev's Tiberiu Ghioane and his dismissal against Internazionale, and a section even suggested that he should be sold as a punishment.

However, Robson and Shepherd both know he has made a massive contribution to the club's rise since his £6.5m signing from Coventry in 2001.

Bellamy scored 14 goals last season and helped to revitalise Shearer, and it was the knee injury he suffered in February which has been pinpointed as the moment that his club's unlikely challenge for the Premiership title faltered. In addition, his two goals in the vital Champions' League game with Feyenoord in Rotterdam last month, after three weeks on the sidelines, helped to take them into the second phase of the competition.