Premiership - Newcastle have finally completed the signing of Manchester Citys Joey Barton for a fee of £5.8million.

Sam Allardyce"s side have beaten off competition from West Ham United for the controversial midfielder, and he will replace Scott Parker who was sold to the Hammers.

The move is good news for the Magpies, who suffered a blow in the transfer market today when out of contract Bolton defender Tal Ben Haim turned down a move to St. James' Park in favour of a move to Chelsea.

It is Allardyce's second signing since taking over at Newcastle with Australian striker Mark Viduka have previously moved from Middlesbrough on a free transfer.

Barton had been expected to sign for Newcastle last week but the deal was held up over a dispute between Barton and Manchester City over a £300,000 "loyalty payment."

That dispute has been settled by Newcastle who upped their initial bid from £5.5 million to £5.8 million.

Barton's position at City became untenable near the end of last season when he was suspended for a training ground attack on Ousmane Dabo.

With Viduka and Barton now signed, Allardyce will now look to bring in some defenders into the club after missing out on Ben Haim.

The Magpies have already lodged a bid for Paris St Germain defender David Rozehnal while they have also been linked with Liverpool centre-half Sami Hyypia and Reading and England full-back Nicky Shorey.

Newcastle are in desperate need of defensive bodies after realising Craig Moore, Titus Bramble and Olivier Bernard; while they also refrained from signing USA international defender Oguchi Onyewu on a permanent move.

SF